GAA: Summer in Croke Park. The sun beats down relentlessly on the little streets around Jones's Road as 32,653 make their way to the first big championship event of the season. Blue skies drizzled by fading jet streams throw a magnificent canopy over this timeless homage to place and identity.

Westmeath rarely have much time for the type of guff above, because such afternoons have settled into a grim pattern of ending in disappointment.

If the recruitment of Páidí Ó Sé as manager was intended to solve anything it was surely the unfortunate habit of losing leads at the death or failing to put away matches that are there for the taking. The county will accordingly be well pleased this morning.

Yesterday's one-point win was the first over neighbours Offaly in 55 years of trying, a period spanning seven championship matches. Better, it was achieved in the sort of circumstances that Westmeath are used to suffering rather than exploiting.

Playing with 14 men for most of the second half they weathered the desperation of two comebacks by Offaly before plotting and executing the winning point with two minutes of normal time left.

After the match Ó Sé is relieved. We know this because although he isn't renowned for sharing his innermost feelings with media, the Westmeath manager does acknowledge that he is "pleased because in fairness I'm under a share of pressure up there.

"Offaly will be kicking themselves because they kicked erratically and possibly could have equalised. But then again we missed scores as well. For a change Westmeath deserved to win. I don't think anyone will begrudge them. They've come to Croke Park on a good few occasions where they'd had games in the bag only to finish second best."

This curiously distant account of his team's success gives way to a pinpointing of the moment when he began to believe that luck was on his side.

It could have been the second Brian Morley point in the 21st minute, which was speculated to have been proved wide by television pictures, or the way they responded to the dismissal of centrefielder Rory O'Connell.

But instead Ó Sé picks the moment when having snapped off four points to draw level with five minutes left, Offaly baulked at the chance to go in front for the first time.

"When they had an opportunity of a goal and Gary Connaughton made a magnificent block and then there was a second block when they attempted a point I had just this feeling that it was a day when we could just nearly pull it."

It's never great fun to be the straight man to a punchline like yesterday's and Offaly manager Gerry Fahy didn't pretend otherwise.

"They've been a good while waiting for a day like this to come. Unfortunately from our point of view it came today but we wish them the best of luck in the next round.

"We'd quite a number of wides and certainly when you lose games by a point they can be costly. We had momentum going until the sending-off. I think it upset us a bit and they had an extra cause to fight for and they rose to the challenge."

Westmeath will face Dublin in the Leinster quarter-final in just under two weeks' time, whereas Offaly go into the pot for the first-round draw in this year's All-Ireland qualifiers.

In the first match on yesterday's double bill Seán Boylan's Meath eventually ran out comfortable winners over Wicklow, 2-13 to 1-8, although they had trailed by two points well into the second half.