Westmeath pile on pain as Wee County lose way

Louth manager Peter Fitzpatrick missed this one because he was in hospital with a kidney stone problem and it has to be hoped his supply of painkillers for that excruciating issue is sufficiently topped-up before he chances viewing the DVD of this turgid encounter.

It wasn’t as if this was a shambles of a match, more a case of a host of circumstances conspiring to ensure nobody left a cold Cusack Park in Mullingar on Saturday night satisfied with what had gone on.

Louth, certainly, were far from satisfied. They had already defeated Westmeath in this year’s championship but were then shredded by Dublin, a defeat which prompted a wave of emigration of Wild Geese proportions.