Keane gutted as Lake County hurting

John Keane's body language told it all. Clearly despondent after their hammering from Dublin in the Leinster football semi-final, the Westmeath captain would have wished to be anywhere than being wheeled out to face the media.

But, to his credit, he didn’t shirk from his duty and faced the music. Offering the view that he hadn’t had "a feeling like this in a long time coming", he said: "I just want to get togged in and go home at this stage."

His assessment of a 27-point defeat was that, individually and collectively, Westmeath let themselves down. Team manager Tomas O Flatharta conceded that it was "very hard to cope", while a delighted Pat Gilroy acknowledged their display was "a hell of a lot better" than the performance against Meath.

"We still had a few bad misses, but I think the option-taking was better today, particularly in the first half when it was still a game," said the Dublin boss.

What disappointed Keane most of all was their poor start, saying that they accepted it was going to be a damage limitation exercise. "We knew they would come at us for the first 20 minutes as they always do," he said, adding they had been confident they could withstand that and hold their own.

"I suppose we let them get too far ahead of us and then the (first) goal was a killer. It was a mistake between myself and John Smyth and that was disappointing.’

While praising his players for maximising their scoring opportunities, Gilroy accepted they were lucky with a few breaks which led to their goals, especially in the second half. And, admitting to having been particularly pleased with the finishing in the first half, he indicated that he will be looking for a further improvement against Kildare on Sunday week.