Westmeath's All-Ireland series opener against Cavan has been set for a full Cusack Park at 5pm, with the game live on GAA+. It is the first sell-out at the Mullingar venue since a 2004 O'Byrne Cup final, and it gives Westmeath the kind of home setting that will test them as much as any opponent.
The demand is easy to understand after Westmeath's whirlwind summer. They beat Meath, Kildare and Dublin to claim Leinster, and their extra-time win over Dublin showed the resilience that carried them through the province's traditional powers.
Cavan arrive with something to prove. Dermot McCabe has had six weeks to put right the damage from their Ulster defeat to Monaghan, but the wait has stretched longer than that in one important respect: they have not won since beating Offaly in March, even though they were in a higher league division than Westmeath this year.
That is the friction running through today's game. Westmeath are stepping into the round as provincial champions, backed by a sold-out crowd and a live television window, while Cavan come in needing a response that has been delayed for weeks. McCabe's side have had the time to reset; they have not yet shown they have solved the problem.
So the question at Cusack Park is not just whether Westmeath can defend their home ground. It is whether Cavan can finally turn that reset into a result before the noise inside a packed stadium starts to work against them.
