Westmeath vs Galway Prediction: Preview & Odds - All Ireland Group 1 Round 2 Football

🏆 Westmeath vs Galway All Ireland Group 1 Round 2 Championship Prediction

Galway will be fully expected to walk out of Mullingar on Sunday with the victory and the all-important 2 points on the board in Group 1. They are full of confidence, unbeaten in this year's championship with victories against London, Sligo, and Mayo propelling them to Connacht Championship glory, and following this up with an important victory versus 14-man Derry two weeks ago. They have had a two-week turnaround for this game compared to Westmeath's 8-days, and are coming off back-to-back defeats in this year's Championship.

Galway can lay down a serious marker in this year's championship with a big margin of victory in Mullingar on Sunday as they are still going under the radar as potential All-Ireland winners even after victories against Mayo and Derry. Galway are definitely the stronger side on paper and victory for them on Sunday is very much expected.

It would be one of the shocks of the championship if Westmeath emerged victorious. This outcome is highly unlikely with there being every likelihood that Galway will have far too much quality for Westmeath on Sunday and will leave with a comfortable margin. I am unsurprisingly tipping Galway to win this one due to the quality they possess, and for what a victory means for them, guaranteed qualification out of this group and a place in the next phase of the All-Ireland Championship, whether that be preliminary quarter-final or quarter-final!

💯 Westmeath vs Galway All Ireland Group 1 Round 2 Championship Odds

Galway are the heavy favourites for this weekend's clash with Westmeath with all the major GAA football betting sites tipping Galway to be the victors on Sunday in Cusack Park, Mullingar.

Westmeath are very much the outsiders coming in at somewhere in the region of 6.25 to 6.50 with the bookmakers. These odds are probably justified when you look at Westmeath’s championship campaign to this point. They came off an excellent league campaign that saw them finish second in Division 3 and a place in the League final versus Down. They would be victorious in that final versus Down and this would book their place in the All-Ireland Championship as opposed to the secondary competition, the Tailteann Cup.

There were high hopes going into the Leinster Championship after this success, especially as they were on the non-Dublin side of the draw, but Westmeath tasted a shock defeat in the Preliminary Quarter Final of the Leinster Championship at the hands of Wicklow on a scoreline of 1-11 to 2-9 in O’Moore Park Portlaoise. This halted their momentum and meant they had to wait weeks for their next match. After, their defeat to Wicklow came on the 7th of April and they would have to wait until the 25th of May to respond against Armagh in Round 1 of the All Ireland Championship, but this would ultimately lead to another defeat.

It is hard to know what to expect from Westmeath as they kept it tight versus Armagh for the first half before a strong second half by Armagh made them worthy winners. Westmeath should take pride from last week's game but their confidence could still be low, reeling from that shock defeat to Wicklow.

🏅Westmeath vs Galway: Match Winner

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Result
Westmeath to Win	6.25	6.50	7.00	6.50	6.66
Galway to Win	1.09	1.13	1.10	1.13	1.14
Draw	14.00	15.00	17.00	13.00	13.00

✔️ Westmeath vs Galway - Betting Tips

• Tip 1: Galway to Win: Galway are the favourites for this battle of the maroon and white jersey teams, and it is a pretty safe bet that they will get the job done on Sunday. The odds are very much in their favour coming in at a slightly low 1.13 at Boylesports, but I would be of the belief that this would be a guarantee winner if one was to place a bet on it.
  
  Galway are far too strong for Westmeath with Galway possessing forwards such as Shane Walsh, Damien Comer, and Robert Finnerty who are capable of destroying any defence on their day. As well as that, midfielders Sean Kelly and Paul Conroy are well capable of popping with a few points or even a goal on occasions like Sean Kelly did last time out against Derry and Conroy scoring 0-3. Galway will have too much quality on the pitch and too many players will have to have extremely poor games for Westmeath to even get a sniff at victory on Sunday.
  
  It should be very comfortable for Galway as with meaning no disrespect to Westmeath, sides such as Mayo and Derry who Galway have defeated in their last two games are of a much higher quality than that of Westmeath. Westmeath will need their home crowd behind them in big numbers on Sunday but I believe even that will not be enough and Sunday will be a guaranteed Galway victory.

• Tip 2: Galway Handicap -7: As touched upon earlier, I believe this will be a comfortable victory for Galway. Westmeath lost by 5 points to Armagh last week but Armagh were without star player and chief scoregetter Rian O’Neill, so who knows what the margin would have been had he been available for Armagh. A 7-point margin of victory might not be out of the question for Galway who also had a 5-point victory in their Round 1 clash with stronger opposition in Derry, although Derry did have Gareth McKinless sent off.
  
  Galway have far too many players capable of scoring multiple points, with players like Shane Walsh, Damien Comer, Robert Finnerty, Matthew Tierney, Sean Kelly, Paul Conroy, and John Daly, all could threaten scoring multiple scores in this game. Westmeath too have threats like Ronan O’Toole, Luke Loughlin, and John Heslin, but it seems Galway have too much quality and could come out comfortable winners on Sunday in Cusack Park, Mullingar.
  
  If Galway start strong on Sunday the scoreline could become bad reading for Westmeath fans as they will need to chase the game and this will leave them open to the many quality forwards and scoregetters that Galway have in their arsenal. I expect a comfortable Galway win and a handicap of -7 is being offered by Boylesports and at odds of 2.30, I think this is a likely outcome, therefore, a good bet.

• Tip 3: Shane Walsh to score a goal anytime: As mentioned earlier, Shane Walsh is a quality forward capable of destroying any defence on his day, proving that in the All-Ireland Final of 2022 against Kerry where he scored 0-9 out of Galway’s 0-16 that day in their defeat to Kerry. He now plays his club football in Dublin with arguably the best club football team in Ireland Kilmacud Crokes, putting up great performances for his club.
  
  However, he is yet to really come alive in this year's championship. He scored 0-2 versus Derry, a respectable score but very much below his high standards. Walsh struggled with injury throughout the league missing the Connacht Quarter Final clash with London and was taken off in the Connacht Semi Final versus Sligo after scoring only 0-1. Walsh was on the bench for the huge Connacht Final clash with Mayo coming on just before halftime and scoring 0-3. However, this is a high-quality forward we are discussing here and his season will come into life soon
  
  Galway manager Padraig Joyce has needed to mind his minutes after injuries in the league and now enough time has passed for Shane Walsh to spring into action, and I expect Sunday to be the day that he does exactly this. He has good odds of 2.63 to score anytime at BoyleSports and in a game where Galway are expected to be comfortable this is a compelling bet.

1️⃣ Westmeath Update

Westmeath have no injury concerns.

2️⃣ Galway Update

Galway also have no injuries to worry about.

👕 Westmeath vs Galway - Potential Lineups

✒️ Jack Guing – Expert Tipster

I am Jack Guing, a 23-year-old hailing from County Offaly in Ireland. I hold a bachelor’s degree in English and History from Maynooth University and a master’s degree in Sports Performance from the University of Limerick. I am a keen sports fan with an avid interest in GAA, soccer, and golf. My passion for performance analysis in sport offers a data-driven style to deliver informative predictions.