For a man who has come so close to making history, Luke Dempsey remains the picture of coolness. And when the Westmeath manager reflects on the lost opportunity, he talks only about sport being sport, how there never can be regrets.

Maybe he should be a little sorry not all the 63,756 who came through the stiles of Croke Park weren't there until the end - even if they were mostly Dublin supporters - because, no matter what happens next Saturday, this was a game that will stick long in the memory.

"Well I'm very proud of all those Westmeath players. They are a great group of players and I just hope that they can give another good account of themselves the next day. But they were disappointed with themselves at half-time. We know we have a strong midfield, but we were giving the ball away.

"So, at half-time, I just told them to go out and play the way we do on the training field since last November. And they did that, took the game to Meath, and could have won it in the end. But we showed again we not the pushover that most people thought would happen here."

Still, Dempsey sees room for improvement: "Well we do need to get more out of forwards, many of whom had an off-day out there. The likes of JP Casey and Fergal Wilson. But I knew that if we started playing the kind of football we've been encouraging, then we can be quite devastating."

For Seán Boylan, there are no surprises left in championship football and, as close as it was, it was nothing he hadn't seen before. "It was a classic, white-heated Leinster championship match. It had everything, and especially the element of surprise from both teams. Maybe more from Westmeath who appeared to be gone at half-time. But they regrouped, and took on the game. It did look dim there for us for a while, and they took over areas of the field where we had dominated for so long."

Boylan accepted that Westmeath created the more chances, but if that leaves Meath with more room for improvement, it doesn't necessarily mean they will hold the psychological edge come next Saturday. "No, I think it will be back to a level playing pitch again."