Westmeath 2-28; Dublin 0-26
Westmeath great Leinster’s run has gone all the way, with the county taking only the second title in their history following an extra-time win over Dublin.
The Lakesiders looked like they might have lost their chance after losing a four-point lead and going behind in the final minutes of regular time against the Dubs who were playing for their 64th title.
But the unfancied Westmeath didn’t make any mistake in extra time, registering their 8-point margin of victory, thanks principally to goals from Brian Cooney and Jack Duncan, and the big impact of returned retiree John Heslin as a sub.
Although missing a few regular starters, most notably Con O’Callaghan, Dublin appeared to be in control in the first half of the game, and led by 11-9 at the break. They added three more points soon after it. It was mostly the Lakesiders after that and they led 21 to 17 with just 11 minutes remaining. But the mighty Dubs rallied with five points before Westmeath’s Senan Baker evened it up, 0-22 to 0-22, to usher in the extra 20 minutes. The extremely fit underdogs took a 1-4 lead early on, and Dublin had no effective reply.
Westmeath had bridged the 22- year gap since their inaugural provincial title with wins over Longford, Meath, Kildare and then Dublin.
Manager Mark McHugh attributed Westmeath’s success in Leinster with a trip north to his home county of Donegal towards the end of the league campaign, which saw his charges finish 3rd in Div. 3.
"I think that's what we needed," McHugh, told RTÉ Sport.
"Westmeath were an 'up and down' team, play well one day, not play well the next day, play well against the good teams, play poorly against the teams that they expected to beat.
"So we needed to get consistency,” said the boss who took over in September.
"We went to Donegal, went up to my hometown of Kilcar and Killybegs and the Bay View [Hotel], we stayed there and [manager] Seamus Gallagher and the guys were just brilliant to us there,” he said.
"But that weekend I think changed our season. We got things right.
"We couldn't work on things because of the weather nearly down here so we got a full weekend together, full weekend of contact time and I'm putting that down just to the clarity of our gameplan from that weekend.”
The result has no bearing on Round 1 of the All Ireland series; all provincial finalists have previously been seeded for home games in the draw. Westmeath will take on Cavan the weekend after next, while Dublin host Louth.
Westmeath scorers: Shane Allen (0-02, 1 tp), Ronan Wallace (0-03); Brían Cooney (1-00); Kevin O'Sullivan (0-02), Sam McCartan (0-02), Matthew Whittaker (0-04, 1 tp); Shane Corcoran (0-01), Jack Duncan (1-01), Brandon Kelly (0-04), Senan Baker (0-04), John Heslin (0-03, 1 tp, 0-01f)
Dublin scorers: David Byrne (0-02); Eoin Kennedy (0-01); Brian Howard (0-01); Seán Bugler (0-02), Niall Scully (0-02), Ciarán Kilkenny (0-03); Paddy Small (0-02), Killian McGinnis, Cormac Costello (0-08, 4 frees, 1 tpf), Luke Breathnach (0-01).
