Dolan's men pay the penalty

Westmeath crashed out of the Leinster Senior Football Championship when they were defeated by Louth at Páirc Tailteann, Navan on Sunday - the Lake County losing a considerable half-time lead in the process.

For long periods it looked very promising for Dessie Dolan's men and Ronan O'Toole's neat finish on the stroke of half-time gave them a 1-9 to 0-4 lead, but Louth were a different proposition after the break as they dominated second half proceedings.

Crucially, the Wee County got the goal that turned the the match in their favour as they were awarded a penalty in the 48th minute when Ryan Burns was adjudged to have been fouled by Jack Smith. Just moments earlier, Westmeath's John Heslin saw his shot strike the upright and come back into play, leading to a devastating counter-attack from Louth.

“We were unlucky at times: John (Heslin) took a shot and it hit the post and, a minute later, there was a penalty at the other end. I thought it was a soft enough decision for the penalty. We probably needed a bit of luck and it never came. That’s sport and it can be cruel," mused Dolan.

"They came out in the second half and pushed up on everything and they just got that momentum. All the good decisions that we made in the first half seemed to fall away in the second half and, in the heat of battle, we lacked that bit of composure that had served us so well. In fairness to the lads, they tried extremely hard and never gave up, but our decision making let us down a bit when the pressure came on.

"I thought the lads showed great spirit right till the end even though we were struggling a little bit to break them down (in the second half). The scores just eluded us in the second half. That's the intensity of championship football. There were times when we looked in good positions and we gave the ball away.”

Later another marginal decision went against Westmeath, who were denied a 45' before the resulting kick-out led to the lead point for Louth (midfielder Conor Early firing over) at a crucial stage of the match.

Defeat is a setback for Dolan, who had to field without prominent players such as Sam McCartan and James Dolan from the start.

“Sam McCartan was ill and wasn’t available to us and James Dolan was struggling a bit with an injury. Obviously, they're two great footballers and it was a loss, but the lads who went out were great in the first half and served us well,” said Dolan.

But they managed just two points in the second half which is a hugely disappointing return having been in such a commanding position at the break.

“It is disappointing from our perspective. I was hoping we’d get the win here today but it wasn’t to be,” added Dolan, whose side will be in one of the groups of four for the All-Irelands series (Sam Maguire cup), the draw for which takes place next week.