It had promised to be a ‘Royal weekend’ for both of Westmeath’s flagship sides. However, a second postponement of the O’Byrne Cup final (now scheduled for March 11th) means that just one Lake County senior team is set to face the once-feared green and gold jerseys next weekend, with Michael Ryan’s charges due to travel to Trim on Saturday afternoon for a real banana skin of a National Hurling League Division 2A fixture.

Without setting the world on fire, Tommy Doyle and his merry men have managed to defeat the two sides who scuppered our long-sought promotion dream last season, and the four points garnered from defeating Carlow and Kildare have the men in maroon and white in pole position to qualify for the divisional final.

Meath has never been renowned for its exploits in the small ball game, but the county has undoubtedly improved in recent years and the Royals have gleefully inflicted a few comprehensive underage defeats on their western neighbours this decade. Accordingly, any morsel of complacency in the visitors’ camp next Saturday (ironically, a day earlier than planned to accommodate the first rescheduled O’Byrne Cup final!) is likely to be severely punished in St Loman’s Park. One suspects that the always-courteous and very knowledgeable Ryan is too long around to allow that. Hopefully, Westmeath will sit alone at the top of the table come Saturday evening.

The counties have met on a whopping 29 occasions in the National League over the years, albeit only four of these matches have been played this century. The Lake County has won 18 times, the Royals ten, and one game was drawn, as follows:

16/11/1947, Cusack Park, Westmeath 5-1 Meath 2-4
6/2/1949, Trim, Meath 1-6 Westmeath 1-1
28/10/1951, Delvin, Meath 6-1 Westmeath 2-6
9/11/1952, Trim, Westmeath 4-7 Meath 1-3
27/10/1957, Cusack Park, Westmeath 7-4 Meath 7-2
26/10/1958, Trim, Westmeath 4-10 Meath 0-2
12/3/1961, Cusack Park, Westmeath 5-10 Meath 4-3
13/10/1963, Trim, Westmeath 2-12 Meath 3-5
25/10/1964, Cusack Park, Westmeath 2-9 Meath 2-5
6/2/1966, Cusack Park, Westmeath 3-10 Meath 3-7
19/2/1967, Trim, Meath 1-7 Westmeath 1-4
9/3/1975, Cusack Park, Westmeath 1-13 Meath 1-6
20/2/1977, Cusack Park, Westmeath 5-8 Meath 0-7
12/11/1978, Delvin, Westmeath 3-11 Meath 2-7
4/11/1979, Trim, Westmeath 2-9 Meath 1-3
2/3/1986, Trim, Westmeath 1-16 Meath 0-7
19/2/1989, Castletown-Geoghegan, Westmeath 1-7 Meath 0-9
18/2/1990, Navan, Meath 2-11 Westmeath 0-12
16/2/1992, Castletown-Geoghegan, Meath 1-9 Westmeath 1-8
22/11/1992, Athboy, Meath 1-12 Westmeath 0-11
13/2/1994, Athboy, Westmeath 1-10 Meath 2-7 (draw)
5/11/1995, Castletown-Geoghegan, Meath 3-15 Westmeath 2-5
30/3/1997, Trim, Meath 2-11 Westmeath 0-7
22/3/1998, Trim, Westmeath 1-10 Meath 2-6
10/4/1999, Cusack Park, Westmeath 4-10 Meath 1-9
9/4/2000, Navan, Meath 1-13 Westmeath 2-6
27/4/2003, Navan, Meath 4-17 Westmeath 3-11
18/4/2004, Trim, Westmeath 2-9 Meath 0-10
1/5/2005, Cusack Park, Westmeath 2-11 Meath 1-11