Donegal 1-13 Westmeath 1-8:Two mantras dominated the chat in the Donegal dressingroom at Cusack Park, Mullingar, after this second-round qualifier on Saturday evening: "Recovery" and "Back on track."

The jaw-dropping drubbing shipped by the National League champions at the hands of Tyrone has clearly been consigned to history.

"Our performance this evening has been most reassuring," said the Donegal manager, Brian McIvor. "I figure we are now back to where we were before the Tyrone match."

Donegal were in fact reduced to 13 before the end. But they showed an unquenchable desire to impress their fans in a crowd estimated at 10,000. In the event, Westmeath got off lightly with the five-point defeat.

Not surprisingly, McIvor was less than pleased with the sendings off: "It was not the sort of game for two red cards to be issued. I hope the dismissals will not come back to haunt us later on in the championship."

The match was well decided when Ciarán Bonner, a late call-up to lead the Donegal attack after the enforced withdrawal of Michael Hegarty, and wing back Niall McCreevy were sent off during the last 10 minutes.

Gary Connaughton, Westmeath's goalkeeper, performed damage limitation for his team by saving a penalty from Michael Murphy as early as 45 seconds into the game.

Connaughton, who later admitted the best team had won, also brought off a couple of other impressive saves, most notably from Ryan Bradley in the early stages.

Later Connaughton even used his height to save low-flying point attempts by Donegal attackers.

Unfortunately for him, his team-mates in attack - notably the Dolans Dessie and Gary - were denied a decent supply of ball by the mighty dominance asserted in the middle third of the pitch by Donegal's Kevin Cassidy and Noel Gallagher.

For the home side it was a bit like trying to run up a down escalator. The more the match continued, the more starved their forwards became.

Remarkably though, Westmeath trailed by only three points at the interval, 0-6 to 0-9.

The goal that ultimately decided the outcome came in the 20th minute of the second half and it was the direct result of a mistake by a sometimes brittle Westmeath defence.

In attempting to clear their lines they saw the ball intercepted as Rory Kavanagh picked up and placed Brendan Devenney for the opportunity. Connaughton had no chance.

That goal gave Donegal a commanding lead, 1-11 to 0-7.

And it was at this stage Westmeath's sluggish scoring rate was painfully highlighted.

For what seemed an eternity - in fact it was well over 30 minutes - they failed to improve on an early second-half point by Denis Glennon.

It was little consolation that at the death Martin Flanagan got in behind the Donegal defence to take a fine, well placed high pass from his full back Donal O'Donoghue to score a goal; by then it was purely of academic interest.

Earlier though - and leading up to Bonner's dismissal - Gary Dolan had been presented with an opportunity to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot but, symptomatic of Westmeath's day, his shot went harmlessly wide.

In fairness to Dolan, he'd had to wait over two minutes before taking the kick, the Kerry referee Aidan Mangan and his officials deep in the consultation that led to Bonner's dismissal.

For their part, Donegal might well claim they had given Westmeath a headstart of a few points even before the throw-in. We are talking about the unavailability of the excellent Hegarty - a casualty of hamstring trouble - to lead the attack.

Afterwards a delighted McIvor agreed that Devenney's goal had been the real clincher. He also reminded one and all his team had in fact lost only once this season. If he was conscious of a downside to the win it might just be that his players allowed Westmeath to get so close in the end.

DONEGAL: P Durkan; M McGee, P Campbell, K Lacey; F McGlynn, B Monaghan, N McCreevy; N Gallagher, K Cassidy; M Murphy (0-4, two frees), C Bonner (0-1), R Kavanagh (0-2); K McMenamin, R Bradley (0-2), B Devenney (1-4, two frees). Subs: C Toye for Bradley, A Sweeney for McMenamin, E McGee for Campbell, P McConnigly for McGlynn, M Doherty for Devenney.

WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; F Boyle, D O'Donoghue, J Keane; D Healy, M Ennis (0-1), G Glennon; D Duffy, M Flanagan (1-0); F Wilson (0-1), J Smith, D Glennon (0-2); A Mangan (0-1), G Dolan, D Dolan (0-3, two frees). Subs: J Connellan for Mangan, K Gavin for Healy, D O'Shaughnessy for Wilson, A Rigney for G Glennon, P Tormey for Duffy.

Referee: A Mangan (Kerry).