Westmeath footballer Lucy Power is set for a hectic seven days aiming to maintain a double club championship success.
This weekend, Power is set to feature for Clonkill in their Westmeath Camogie Senior ‘A’ Championship semi-final against Drumraney.
Fast forward to next Saturday (September 28) and Power will don the colours of The Downs in their penultimate round encounter against St. Loman’s in the Village Barn senior football championship.
Before advancing to the final-four of the football competition, The Downs had to negotiate no fewer than seven round robin games in as many weeks. All bar two of these fixtures took place on a Thursday evening. Part of an arrangement designed to allow dual club stars like Power to have extra rest periods in between games.
This still led to Power playing a grand total of 11 games in just seven weeks. Given how much she enjoys lining out for both teams, it was something Power was more than happy to do. “I had a lot of football games on Thursdays and I would have had to play a round of championship camogie on the Sunday as well”.
“It’s to facilitate dual players to a certain point. You’ve two days recovery in between games,” Power explained. “I suppose if you were to have seven games and then look at running a camogie senior championship alongside that; you’d be a long time running off championships. If you were to go week in, week out”.
A lot to be said for a Saturday game
“The Thursdays were grand, but there’s a lot to be said for a Saturday game as well. It was nice at the weekend, but we’ve a lot of girls working at weekends and that”.
“It’s going well, I’ve two semi-finals to look forward to” explained Power. “They won’t be easy this weekend either, Drumraney are a good side. Two tough matches coming up now in the next few weeks.”
Because there is only a distance of approximately five miles between the two clubs. Any showdown between The Downs and St Loman’s has a huge level of intrigue.
The Downs enjoyed a 2-12 to 0-10 win over their near rivals when they met in round two of this year’s championship. Also recording a 2-8 to 2-5 triumph when the sides squared off at the semi-final stage in 2023.
Power is also close to a number of Loman’s players that are currently part of the Westmeath inter-county set-up. Which adds even further spice to their forthcoming meeting.
“Vicky Carr would be a best friend of mine” explains Power. “We would have gone to college together. We’d be great pals off the field as well. “She plays with Loman’s and Lucy McCartan as well. would be another great friend of mine down through the years. Some of my best friends play with Loman’s and I’m lucky enough to play with them with Westmeath”.
Playing against St. Loman's is a different story
“Playing against them is a different story, but we’re not too far at all in terms of distance or anything. The two clubs are close. We’re still friends anyway after all the games, which is always a good sign!”
“Loman’s are a brilliant team” added Power. “Even though we beat them early on in the championship, as of now they are top of the table and they’re top of the table for a reason”. “We’d be under no illusions going into the semi-final, how hard it is going to be. They played a similar style of football to ourselves, an attacking game.”
When The Downs men’s team claimed their 10th Westmeath senior football championship title in 2022, Power’s father Dermot was on board as a selector. 12 months later, Lucy was also featuring in a top-tier decider with the club against Milltown. Power gave her side the best possible start by sensationally rattling the net with just 15 seconds on the clock.
They may have ended on the wrong side of a 2-15 to 3-3 final score-line. However, Power still believes there is a lot The Downs can take from their first-ever appearance in a Westmeath LGFA senior showpiece.
“I’m a full-back with Westmeath, but I was full-forward that day with The Downs. I don’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but last year against Milltown, it was the club’s first ever senior county final”.
“It was a huge spectacle and it was a great experience for us”. “Although the result didn’t go our way, we learnt a lot from it. Hopefully, if we’re lucky enough to get into a senior final this year, we can take some learnings from last year as well. Milltown are a very seasoned and well experienced team, so it was a tough task.”
2025 set for big Westmeath year
The elder Power was also part of the Westmeath ladies management team in 2024. A year which ended when Westmeath exited the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship with an extra-time quarter-final defeat to Wexford.
Before that, the younger Power started all seven games as Westmeath achieved a respectable fourth-place finish in Lidl National Football League Division 2. There has been something of a transition within the Westmeath squad since their All-Ireland intermediate title win at the expense of Wexford in 2021.
Power was one of just six survivors from that day’s starting line-up to be included in the first 15 for their last-eight clash against the same county earlier this year.
“Last year was a great year for us” declared Power. “I think getting to the quarter-final, although we mightn’t have progressed in terms of how far we got in the championship in comparison to the year previous, we definitely have learnt a lot”.
“I think as a team, we got that opportunity to get new players in, which will help the panel grow and hopefully build on for next year,” added Power.
