Westmeath feel like the cat’s whiskers after beating the bookies

IT’S not often you see a manager smiling after his team has just been beaten by more than double scores, but that was the case in Mullingar on Saturday evening.

Such was the accepted gulf in class between the two teams — at opposite end of the All-Ireland scale — that the bookies were offering even money on Westmeath with a 22-point head start.

The Midlanders beat those odds with several points to spare, which explained why manager Seamus Qualter was so pleased.