Heartbreaking extra-time defeat for Westmeath side

Despite being a proud Wexford man, Frank Browne wanted nothing more than to send his native county packing from the All-Ireland Intermediate ladies’ football championship last Sunday but in the end his Westmeath charges came up just short.

The Westmeath boss admitted the quick Wexford start was damaging but he was proud of how his side responded to make it a real battle to the final whistle.

"We got completely blitzed but then to our eternal credit we dug in and we hauled ourselves back into the game," said Browne. "I suppose, ten minutes after (full-time), looking back, we probably expended so much energy trying to drag ourselves back into the game that we were very flat in extra-time, but fair play to Wexford, those things happen.

“Initially the bad start cost us, we were 2-3 to no score down and then a game of football broke out. Looking back now, we could have gone in at half-time seven or eight down or we could have gone in level at half-time so it was a strange kind of game. I think it was a really good game of football, it had everything in it."

Browne, clearly a popular manager amongst this group, was just as disappointed as his team but, true to form, he always had one eye on the positives and the future.

"We are disappointed that our journey as a group is over; we are disappointed with a lot of stuff, but what do we do? As people and as athletes, we go back, work harder and try again. All year we talked about our culture and our character. At the end of the day it's about winning too. We’ve had loads of moral victories but moral victories are not worth a curse," he remarked.

"I think the girls can be proud of what they have done, they can be proud of how they played the game, I think we’ve a lot to work on, a lot to build on, and it will be a very sad dressing room. A few of our players will probably be looking at their future but that’s all stuff we’ll deal with another day. Fair play to Wexford; results in the other games are very interesting now; that’s their pathway.

“For us, we’ll play our club championship, we’ll lick our wounds and see where we go.

"There’s absolutely nothing between the eight teams that were left in it, any team can beat any team on any given day.

“We’ll look forward now, we’ll take a week or two and then look forward to the league."