‘We were masters of our own downfall’ - Frank Browne

Westmeath ladies football manager, Frank Browne was “bitterly disappointed” after the defeat to Roscommon last Sunday, but he accepted that his charges had lost to a better team on the day.

“The better team always wins because they get more on the scoreboard. We’re just bitterly disappointed, it wasn’t for the want of effort or trying,” the Westmeath manager said in the aftermath of last Sunday's LGFA All-Ireland semi-final at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Westmeath were in a good place at half-time as they had possibly their best spell just before the break and were leading 2-4 to 1-5 at the interval.

“Maybe we were masters of our own downfall. We had the breeze in the first half and our scoring efficiency was low enough; we probably should have gone in at half-time a bit further ahead with the breeze,” Browne said.

Roscommon had the wind in the second half and they came out for the second half a determined team. They tore into the Westmeath side with vigour and laid the platform for the win.

“It was disappointing that we backed off and when the goal (Roscommon's crucial second goal) went in, sure it was over at that stage of the game,” said Browne, who was left to ponder how his side might have fared if they had managed to hold on for extra-time.

Westmeath will be disappointed with some of their passing and shooting, but a lot of that was down to Roscommon's excellent defensive structure, with Saoirse Wynne guarding the defence in a sweeper role.

“We pride ourselves on our passing, but we kicked away a multitude of ball. Even at the end, we kicked a ball over the sideline and gave them back possession with 45 seconds to go. Look, we can have no complaints; we were the masters of our own downfall,” Browne remarked.

While Roscommon deserved the win based on their second-half display, Browne felt Westmeath's level of performance was “probably the most bitter pill to take in a lot ways”.

In the last quarter, Roscommon pushed up on the Westmeath kickouts and this helped the Connacht side to force errors and they capitalised by getting the winning scores.

“They (Roscommon) had their homework done, they got a lot of joy from kickouts. I thought we were getting joy from the over the top kickouts but they (Roscommon) settled that down and I’ve no complaints. They came out to play, they had their homework done and beat us fair and square,” said the Westmeath boss.

“It's a bitter pill, but we just have to swallow it. These are the fine margins; it’s a really, really tough dressing room in there so we’ll just lick our wounds, that’s all you can do at this stage,” added Browne.