This is as good as it gets, says Dempsey

EIGHT points down at the break, second best all over the park and yet they finished the 70 minutes with a goal to spare.

Just what was said in the Longford dressing room at half-time yesterday?

“I asked them did anyone think they had played up to the standard they were capable of?” said Luke Dempsey.

“There was a 100% response that they hadn’t. I took off no players and gave them the chance to show that they were capable of.”

It got worse before it got better when a shoulder injury prevented Liam Keenan from running back out. The St Patrick’s clubman is the glue that holds Longford’s midfield together but his misfortune had an upside.

The introduction of David Barden to top of the right meant the home side had reverted, inadvertently, to the full-forward line that spearheaded their memorable five-match campaign last year.

Coincidence or not, they were level within eight minutes and never looked back.

“The gods were smiling on us,” said Dempsey who must now plan for a Leinster quarter-final against Laois in three week’s time.

“The times the goals came was vital. It was no different to the Westmeath goal in the first half. We had done well to get back to four-all and they went a couple of points up and tagged on the goal.

“We needed the goals. They gave us such a lift and the lads played from their hearts from then on. Tactics went out the window. Fifty-fifty balls were won and that was the key.”

It must have been a strange experience for Dempsey yesterday. He guided Westmeath to Leinster and All-Ireland titles at minor and U21 levels in the 1990s and took the seniors to unprecedented heights before being replaced by Páidí Ó Sé in 2003.

Four of the players who won an All-Ireland U21 final with him in 1999, Dessie Dolan and David O’Shaughnessy included, started for Westmeath yesterday but Dempsey played down that mutual history in describing his delight.

“It was one of the best wins to be involved in because of the manner of it. It is nothing personal. There’s been lots of media attention on me this week but I wouldn’t even make eye contact with some of the Westmeath players I know well because you are in a different job. This is as good as it gets because the manner of the win not because of who we beat.”

With their first qualifier two months ago, Westmeath have ample time for a long and bitter inquest.

It is now three years since their Leinster Championship success and they haven’t won a game in the province since. That they did everything right for 35 minutes yesterday will be little consolation and it is the ten minutes after the break that will give them all sleepless nights in the weeks to come.

“It was two mistakes in the back line that caused the two goals and they got a point straight away as well,” said Tomas Ó Flatharta.

“That gave them momentum and they kept going at it. It’s very difficult to get things going again when something like that happens.”

By reaching an All-Ireland quarter-final last year, the Lake County showed that initial disappointment doesn’t have to frame a summer but the altered structure will ensure that the road back to the last eight will be considerably more dangerous.

Ó Flatharta added: “It is a long break but everybody thought we were dead and buried last year as well after going out in the first round. It’s not the end of the day. The qualifiers are there to play for.”