Westmeath’s Kieran Martin believes they are in a better position to seriously challenge Dublin this year and has indicated they won’t rely on a blanket defence strategy.

Back-to-back All-Ireland champions Dublin will face old foes Westmeath next weekend after Tom Cribbin's side edged out Offaly at the second attempt in the Leinster quarter-finals.

John Heslin held his nerve to kick an equalising point from a free in the fourth minute of injury time and send this local derby to a replay in Mullingar next Saturday.

Paul Keane takes a look at five managers under pressure in football.

Early July and Tom Cribbin is sitting in the Annebrook Hotel in Mullingar wondering aloud about an audacious plan that could go a long way towards the impossible and overcoming the Dubs in the upcoming Leinster final.

Dublin boss Jim Gavin has called for meaningful dialogue between managers and referees during the season.

Westmeath 1-12 Kildare 1-11: Shot down in spring, but singing in summer. Such is the way of Westmeath under Tom Cribbin these last couple of seasons.

Trepidation has turned to anticipation in the Westmeath camp.

Former Westmeath All Star John Keane has described Sunday’s Leinster semi-final as the county’s make-or-break fixture for 2016 and believes victory over Kildare would dispel the dark clouds hanging over Tom Cribbin’s side.

Westmeath 0-13 Offaly 0-12: There were unsavoury scenes at the end of this Leinster SFC quarter-final, as Westmeath star Kieran Martin was struck after the final whistle.

Dessie Dolan reckons “now is the time” for Westmeath to look for an inside manager to pull the county out of the black hole it resides in.

Westmeath 1-9 Offaly 0-9: Westmeath maintained their Division 3 status for another week at least with this hard-earned three-point victory over Offaly in Cusack Park, Mullingar.

Westmeath 3-14 Limerick 0-7: Tom Cribbin wore the look of a man who just had his shoulders relieved of the heavy load which had sat there since the final Sunday in January. That was the afternoon Westmeath’s promotion plans were refused take off at Cusack Park with Kildare bagging maximum points behind enemy lines.

Fermanagh 1-13 Westmeath 0-7: Fermanagh displayed new levels of maturity and confidence to overcome Westmeath in Breffni Park on Saturday and book their place in the last eight of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Sitting in the Hogan Stand two weeks ago watching John Heslin roll in the game-clinching goal, it was hard not to get drawn in by the pure joy and excitement the Westmeath squad and supporters were experiencing.

Blanket defence still frustrates brilliant Blues

Leinster SFC final

And there you were, thinking you’d never see him or Westmeath again, when who springs up in Croke Park and on your screen but himself. 

Tom Cribbin and those who know him, there was poetic symmetry to his Westmeath side’s 10-point comeback victory over Meath. As an Ironman veteran, Cribbin knows all about perseverance and absorbing pain to make gain.

A few moments after Mick Monahan blew for full-time in the 2004 Leinster football final at Croke Park, Shane Power spotted a gap between two stewards and darted through.

Dublin manager Jim Gavin admits he and Kieran McGeeney were left disappointed by a pre-match incident involving Davy Byrne and an Armagh player that left Byrne with a broken nose.

It is becoming a feature of this year’s Leinster football championship that teams are being given all sorts of sound advice about defending stoutly against Dublin and promptly ignoring it.

Westmeath hurling manager Michael Ryan is hopeful that the feelgood factor created by the footballers’ historic win over Meath can lead to his men creating a big shock on Sunday.

Earlier this year, Ger Egan conceded he’d almost questioned himself as a footballer after Westmeath’s horror 2014 campaign yielded 12 defeats in 12 games.

Tom Cribbin admitted it was a little ‘miracle’ to emerge from the depths of despair grasping a Leinster final place, but the man who actually conjured it, Kieran Martin, could only shrug.

Westmeath 3-19 Meath 2-18: To put all the madness in its proper context, consider where Westmeath were exactly a year ago to the day.

Peter McNamara assesses the live matches this weekend.

A cool head from Kieran Martin produced the goal that sent Westmeath into Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against Meath, but it could be a huge moment in the managerial career of Tom Cribbin.

It’s amazing what a good dressing down from a manager does.