Croke Park has rarely experienced an atmosphere like it.
When the Westmeath team ran out for the first of today's Leinster SFC semi-finals, the closing stages of the Ireland v France Euro '16 clash was still being shown on the big screens and the sparsely populated stadium was in virtual silence (apart from the theme music over the public address).
The final whistle in Lyon had sounded by time the Kildare team took the field, but the atmosphere inside Croker remained subdued as spectators came to terms with the disappointment of Ireland's 2-1 defeat.
No doubt, the mood will have picked up by time the Dubs lock horns with old rivals Meath in the second Leinster SFC semi-final at 6.35pm.
TweetProbably the strangest Croke Park moment in a while as Westmeath run out to tens of people and soccer ongoing pic.twitter.com/Y2fW2yU4Hs
- Donnchadh Boyle (@depboyle) June 26, 2016