Westmeath are Leinster senior football champions for the first time since 2004 after finding another gear in extra time to defeat Dublin by 2-28 to 0-26 at Croke Park this afternoon.

Having trailed by 0-11 to 0-9 at the end of the first-half of normal time, Mark McHugh’s men got on top of their fancied opponents in the second-half with the points of Robert Forde, Ronan Wallace and Sam McCartan helping storm them into a three-point lead.

The excellent Senan Baker moved them four ahead before the Dubs battled back with scores from Sean Bugler and Ciaran Kilkenny and then levelled with a brilliantly converted two-point free by Cormac Costello.

Davy Byrne’s point after that looked like snatching the win for the capital men, but there’d still be time for Baker to send the decider to extra time where the Lake men dominated their opponents.

The first-half of the added periods saw McHugh’s charges shut-out the Dubs, hitting them to 1-4 and conceding nothing, with Brian Cooney supplying the goal in effort of a two-pointer.

Greg McEneaney got Dublin’s first score in extra time two minutes into the second period, but it’d be outweighed by a long range effort from substitute John Heslin who enjoyed a dream return to his county’s colours here.

McEneaney sent over another for the Dubs ahead of Sean Guiden registering a sorely needed two-pointer for them, but another effort from beyond the arc by Costello dropped short and the writing was on the wall.

A side threatened by demotion to the Tailteann Cup a fortnight ago, Westmeath saw out the historic win with Jack Duncan firing in their second goal just before the hooter sounded to mark the Lake County’s second ever Leinster SFC triumph.

WATCH THE FULL TIME HIGHLIGHTS⬇️🎥

The show is over in Croke Park and the Delaney Cup has a new home in Westmeath👏🏆🏅

Full-time score after extra-time:@DubGAAOfficial 0-26@westmeath_gaa 2-28#DUBvWES pic.twitter.com/sjXZwvVx5R

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 17, 2026

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