Mick O'Dwyer was in no doubt that Wicklow were the architects of their own downfall against Westmeath in yesterday's Leinster SFC quarter-final at Tullamore. Westmeath needed extra-time to beat O'Dwyer's charges, but afterwards the evergreen Kerryman seemed to console himself by claiming that Wicklow would not have been ready to face the challenge of Dublin in the semi-final. "We certainly have nobody to blame only ourselves," the Garden County manager said. "We got the chances and we didn't take them - simple as that. When you miss a penalty on a given day, they are the ones you must be putting away if you are to win. You can't afford to miss a penalty. If we had got that, we would have went five points up and that would have made all the difference to us. "Overall, though, I am quite happy with them and I don't think we would be ready for Dublin to be honest. It was great that we were able to put it up to a Division 1 team." O'Dwyer also denied weekend newspapers reports that he turned down the Dublin manager's job last year. He said he has been offered the position before, but that it has been in "John Bailey's time, five or six years ago." He elaborated: "It was about five years ago when I was in charge of Laois. There was an offer and I did consider it, but that's all about it." Tweet

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