Leinster championship-winning boss Mark McHugh says the turning point of Westmeath's season came towards the end of their Allianz League campaign when he took the squad to his native Donegal for a training camp.
The Lakesiders were trundling along in Division 3, in a campaign that eventually ended with a third-place finish with four victories and three losses.
With two fixtures left McHugh, who won the All-Ireland as a player in 2012, brought the squad north in March to instil the "clarity" he believes they needed.
While they didn't do enough to earn promotion, they hit the ground running come championship as they demolished Longford and then shocked neighbours Meath, last season's All-Ireland semi-finalists, in the quarter-final.
They needed extra-time to see off Kildare in the semi-final and surged past Dublin, also after extra-time, in Sunday's final to claim just their second ever senior provincial title, and a first since 2004.
"I think that's what we needed," McHugh, who took charge of Westmeath last September 2025 after previously serving on the coaching ticket, told RTÉ Sport after their 2-28 to 0-26 victory at Croke Park.
"We had a lot of so-called close calls last year and we didn't come out the right end of it
"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.
"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.
"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 game plan from that weekend.
"We had two games left in the league and I believe we played well in those two games, we didn't get over the line in the Wexford game but we played well and we took it into the championship.
"So that weekend I think was the turning point of our year.
"But from day one we've envisaged Wally [captain Ronan Wallace] walking up the steps of Hogan Stand and by God, did he do it today, it was just brilliant."
Westmeath will now move into the All-Ireland series where they face Cavan and McHugh acknowledged that such a momentous achievement will take a while to sink in.
"Listen, what them lads have just done for Westmeath football...they won't know it tonight, they won't know it tomorrow, they won't even know it this year," he said.
"Obviously, all we're hearing is 2004, and yes, that's the one history. Now, 2026 will be remembered as well.
"I suppose we broke the hoodoo of 1992 in Donegal, 2012 and sometimes you get annoyed listening to it all the time.
"We questioned them from day one. We said up on our first meeting, 'we're going to see Wally walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand' and he did that today and I couldn't be prouder of that bunch."
Westmeath and Dublin were tied at 0-22 apiece after 70 minutes but the visitors burst out of the blocks, scoring 1-04 without reply at the start of extra-time to all but seal the title.
"On first reflections, the best team won," said Dubs stand-in manager Dean Rock.
"The best team should have won in normal time. We did really well to claw it back and get extra-time.
"Ultimately, that first period of extra time really caught us. We couldn't get up the speed of it and to be fair to Westmeath, they outran us and outworked us, and the best team won.
"They showed a lot of resilience to bring it back, when it was 0-21 to 0-18 with five or six minutes to go, to get extra time, it was a great kick from Cormac (Costello).
"But we were in a position in the game, where we were 0-15 to 0-11 up in that second half, to kick on but Westmeath stuck in there and hit the front really hard in extra time.
"They had fantastic support here today, they came in their droves, and the players really responded to the call from the supporters. I'm sure that massively helped them to get over the line."
Dublin will face Louth in the All-Ireland series in two weeks' time.
