Westmeath's Allianz Football League Division Three campaign concluded with a 1-20 to 1-14 loss against Offaly at TEG Cusack Park last Sunday.
Offaly's win was enough to steer the Faithful County to safety as Wexford and Derry were relegated. Killian Daly, Boidu Sayeh, and John Connellan were all sent off for Westmeath, who trailed 1-8 to 1-6 at the interval. Luke Loughlin scored 1-4, while Connellan contributed five points, but Offaly, prompted by Nigel Dunne and Peter Cunningham, prevailed.
"We stayed in the division, but the deflation of not winning last Sunday probably took the wind out of our sails a bit," Westmeath manager Colin Kelly remarked in an interview with Midlands Sport 103 highlighting the setback against Longford.
"The lads tried hard, but it just wasn't to be, the better team won on the day. We have no qualms about that and we will reflect on the National League to assess where we are at, to plan as best as we can going forward. We gave plenty of the lads in the squad game time for various reasons, some forced and some where we just wanted to see where the lads were at."
Kelly also confirmed that the Westmeath players will return to club action for a stint in April.
"The lads will go back to their clubs, we will put a plan in place, we will meet early next week," Kelly said. "We will have a break and a good time frame to put together a plan for the things that haven't worked in the National League and enhance the things that have worked well. We have a good platform to work with, we will have a good preparation match in the O'Byrne Cup final against Meath."
