Westmeath must keep their cool in croker cauldron says gavin

Westmeath should treat Sunday's Leinster final against Dublin the same as any other game, according to defender Kieran Gavin.

The Mullingar Shamrocks man, who is back to full fitness after almost a year out with an Achiles tendon injury, captained four of Jim Gavin's squad (Paul Flynn, Dean Rock, James McCarthy and Jonny Cooper) to Sigerson Cup glory in 2012 while studying in DCU.

Fast forward three years and he is part of the Westmeath squad hoping to upset the odds when they take on the high scoring Dublin team. While it will go down as one of the biggest shocks in years if Tom Cribbin's charges beat Dublin, Gavin told the Evening Herald that the team are going to Croker with only one thing in mind.

"It's a final and we have to try and go and win it. We celebrated after beating Meath for a couple of days but Tom and the lads were very conscious of getting us back down to earth to try and perform in the final. If we go out and get absolutely hammered by Dublin, it won't really stand for anything beating Meath in a Leinster semi-final. There'll be a little asterisk beside it."

"If we start like (we did against Meath), we all know the game is going to be over and it'll be 20 points down at half-time. We're not going to have anything to claw back."

With up to 20,000 fans expected to make the journey to Croker for Sunday's decider, Gavin says that it's important that Westmeath don't suffer stage fright.

"It's a game that we've all been playing since eight years old. We just have to try and treat it as another game because, if we get lost in the occasion, we'll be wiped out."