A gracious Dean Rock admitted that Dublin ran out of legs in extra-time as they succumbed to a hungrier Westmeath side in the Leinster SFC final.

The underdogs dominated the additional 20 minutes to win by eight points after Dublin had reeled them at the end of normal time.

“I think we showed massive resolve and resilience at the end of normal time to dig in and get it to extra-time,” the stand-in Dublin manager told the assembled media in Croke Park.

“It wasn’t looking likely after 63 or 64 minutes and to be fair to them, they did claw it back, but we just never got to the pitch of it at the start of extra-time.

“The very first attack, the ball goes out over the sideline and from there, Westmeath just ran us into the ground to be fair to them. They were certainly full value for their victory.

“I think the dirty stuff - they won a lot of the breaking ball, the kickout battle, the ground battle. I don’t know the figures on it, but it just seemed they were winning a little bit more breaking ball than us and were getting massive joy on the kickout side of it.”

Dublin lost towering midfielder Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne to an early shoulder injury, but Rock is hopeful that Lee Gannon, Con O’Callaghan, Eoin Murchan and Colm Basquel will be back for their All-Ireland SFC opener against Louth.

Tweet

Most Read Stories