These are heady days for Westmeath football.
Given there was a safety net for both themselves and Cavan in their Round 1 All-Ireland Football championship clash, there was always a danger that the Lake County could struggle following the high of landing just a second ever Leinster title two weeks ago at Croke Park.
At times it looked like their winning run was about to come to an end, but for the third successive game, Mark McHugh's side came out on top after extra-time and for the first time in the county’s history, they have won five championship games on the spin.
At half-time in extra-time in Mullingar, the hosts trailed by half a dozen points, but from there on in it was all Westmeath.
Senan Baker and Ronan Wallace raised orange flags, Kevin O’Sullivan fired to the back of the net while Brandon Kelly and John Heslin added to their tally to seal a 1-31 to 3-21 victory.
McHugh, in a memorable maiden year in charge of Westmeath, said his team were fully prepared for a Cavan ambush after the highs of provincial glory.
"Relief," he responded to RTÉ Sport when asked for his primary emotion after another gripping contest. "Energy has been built up the past two weeks.
"Those guys (Westmeath players) have got themselves into a position in a position where they can be very proud.
"After the Leinster final, we felt there was a bit more in us. We knew Cavan were coming down for an ambush, no doubt about it. We played well in patches throughout the game.
"We got to extra-time and it’s pure and utter relief. I thought the game was gone in a period there in that first half, but with two-pointers, it’s only three points (three two-pointers).
"We said at half-time we would get shooters on the field and we got shooters on the field. We finished it out and there was only one team in that second half.
"We are in the winner’s pot now and that is exactly where we want to be."
His Cavan counterpart Dermot McCabe was pleased to see a positive response from his side following a below-par display in Ulster at the hands of Monaghan.
McCabe, who 12 months ago was managing Westmeath with McHugh part of his backroom team, said he was well prepared for the Lake County’s counter-attack and kickout strategies given his knowledge of the opposition players, but lamented his side couldn’t get over the line in normal time at Cusack Park.
"Towards the end of the 70 minutes, we probably had a lot of the flow of the game," he said.
"That was probably our biggest chance.
"I know we did well in extra time, our efficient is still below 50%, but Westmeath are extremely accurate and got some very good scores."
Watch Mayo v Monaghan in the All-Ireland Football Championship first round on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
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