Westmeath manager Tom Cribbin couldn't praise his players enough after their remarkable comeback victory over Meath.
The Kildare man's comments after the Lake County's first championship win over their near-neighbours were in complete contrast to those which followed their relegation to Division 3 of the Allianz League at the end of April, when he laid into his team for lacking leadership.
"It's a miracle for the lads there," he is quoted in the Irish Daily Star.
"At the start of the year, I saw something special in that group of lads. We knew they have fierce character and getting them to gel as a unit was the whole secret to making it happen.
"We were a bit at sea in the first half there. No matter what way you were going to approach it, there was always going to be a huge amount of pressure on us.
"We didn't play that well in the first half. Their game-plan was very, very good. It took us a while to counteract it once we got more mobility in the middle of the pitch.
"The young lads starting getting better and better, and more belief in themselves. The way we finished the match last week (against Wexford), scoring 1-9, and the way we had been getting goals in a lot of our games… we just had that belief that we could get goals.
"So that's the way we approached it."
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