Flanagan insists Westmeath ‘are just itching to get there’ and face Dublin in Croke Park

“We’ve already been on to the Dublin county council,” says Pat Flanagan, “to see if we can park our bus in front of their goal up there.”

No harm in joking about it now, because deep down Flanagan knows that things will be very different when it comes to playing Dublin in Croke Park on Saturday week. But Westmeath are there, priming themselves for the challenge, and that’s good enough for now.

“The whole idea when we started this year was to get into fellas’ heads and have them believe and think that they can achieve anything,” adds the Westmeath manager. “I don’t want to keep repeating myself, but not too many would have given us a chance of coming out of division two.

“That was a huge boost for us mentally, to come out of there, and a lot now will depend on our mentality and what we can bring to the game. If we fear Dublin or stand back off Dublin they’re going to crucify us and we can’t afford to do that.

“We are a developing team, we are a young team, we are coming forward and this is a great start for Westmeath at the stage of development that we’re in. And a good start to the championship too. It will give the fellas confidence to go into this game, which is going to be a fair challenge in two weeks time.”

Flanagan knows too that Westmeath’s performance here won’t came near beating Dublin, but that’s all part of the process: taking on Carlow was always going to be something of a no-win situation: “If we can stay in the game and not let them dictate the pace. That’s the biggest problem. Dublin are inclined to be able to dictate the pace and dictate how they play and how they operate. But it’s up to us to set out our stall and set out our mark on the game. And if we can do that, we know we can get the scores. Today, we got 3-15 and we scored heavily in some league matches, too.

“Of course Dublin know how to win games, and they know how to win championships. They know how to prepare. They’re an experienced outfit. And it’s not just the football team itself. There is an awful lot more to it. But our guys are just itching to get there.”

Carlow manager Anthony Rainbow had no complaints about this unceremonious exit from Leinster: “I thought we defended very well, for the first 20 or 25 minutes.

“Unfortunately we then conceded two goals, in quick succession, and that really put us on the back foot.”