Westmeath manager Tom Cribbin has said his players are now desperate to ensure their 31-point trouncing at the hands of Dublin does not define their summer.
Jim Gavin's All-Ireland champions romped to a 4-29 to 0-10 win at Croke Park, completely overwhelming their opponents despite missing the likes of Philly McMahon and Diarmuid Connolly and leaving Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon on the bench.
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Westmeath started brightly but they wilted in the face of a scorching Dubs attack, and just couldn't live with the movement and relentless power of the men in blue.
Cribbin had promised his side would "have a go" in the Leinster SFC semi-final, and though he admitted their ambition left them exposed to Dublin's lethal attack, he had no regrets.
"In my heart and soul I knew Dublin were a lot better than everyone was judging them, but everyone wanted us to go out and see if you could play them like that, man to man - we were just outclassed in too many positions," he told RTÉ Sport.
"The guys gave it what they had. That's the difference between Division 1 and Division 4. You go down a couple of years in a row for a reason in the league but they gave it everything.
"If we'd set up very defensively we never would have had a chance of winning the game but we might have been able to keep it to eight or ten points. I don't think anyone would have respected us for doing that.
"The lads themselves felt they had to have a go and see where they are in the ranking. Unfortunately, now we know where we are."
Westmeath now go through the back door as they look to gee themselves up for the qualifiers.
Cribbin insisted the mood was upbeat in the dressing-room afterwards and hopes the bruising loss hardens his charges for a road to redemption.
"That will define us now, what happens from here on in," he said. "Being behind that Dublin team by so far is one thing.
"In the second half we went out with two sweepers to see if we could curtail it a bit but there was no point. We wanted to give certain lads a run then.
"The lads wanted to try and keep going themselves. We were just completely outclassed. We were on a hiding to nothing whichever way we did it. We just decided, 'look, at least try and put the best show we can on'.
"We had a few words, positive words. The players are as positive as they can be. They're embarrassed a bit, but at the same time they don't want that match to define them this year."
