Dublin ease into their stride

Dublin 1-22 Louth 0-12 : Dublin launched their quest for a fourth Leinster title in a row with a comfortable 13-point victory…

Dublin 1-22 Louth 0-12: Dublin launched their quest for a fourth Leinster title in a row with a comfortable 13-point victory over Louth in front of 56,496 at Croke Park.

The opening 35 minutes was a fairly disjointed affair as Louth struggled to break down Dublin's defence while the hosts produced a terrible display of shooting, ending the half with eight wides to the visitors six.

Two goal chances did fall to a typically lively Alan Brogan who may have been better served by laying off to an unmarked Tomas Quinn on both occasions. Debutant forward Paddy Andrews also forced a good save from Stuart Reynolds.

Louth had their own opportunity to raise the green flag after Ronan Carroll made headway down the end line but Stephen O'Shaughnessy eventually cleared from just under the crossbar.

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Dublin led 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval with 0-4 coming from Quinn, three from frees, while Derek Crilly and Aaron Hoey both registered two points for Louth.

Dublin ruled out any chance of a competitive second-half with four unanswered points as Brogan, in particular, began to exert his influence on proceedings. Quinn also began to make a scoring impact from play.

The win was secured after 43 minutes when Quinn pounced on a defensive error that saw Keaney eventually set up Brogan for the games only goal.

Aaron Hoey responded for Louth but eight points without reply moved Dublin well out of sight. They now face Westmeath in the Leinster semi-final on June 29th.

Dublin: 1 S Cluxton; 2 D Henry, 3 R McConnell, 4 S O'Shaughnessy; 5 P Casey, 6 B Cullen, 7 B Cahill; 8 E Fennell, 9 S Ryan; 10 C Moran (0-2), 11 J Sherlock (0-2), 12 P Andrews (0-1); 13 A Brogan (capt, 1-7), 14 C Keaney (0-3, three frees), 15 T Quinn (0-6). Substitutes: 22 M Vaughan (0-1) for P Andrews (52 mins), 26 B McManamon for J Sherlock (60 mins), 18 K Nolan for B Cullen (66 mins), 20 P McMahon for B Cahill (67 mins), 19 D Magee for E Fennell (68 mins).

Louth: 1 S Reynolds; 2 D Finnegan, 3 M Fanning, 4 J Neary; 5 J O'Brien, 6 C McGuinness, 7 R Finnegan (0-1); 8 P Keenan (0-1), 9 R Carroll (0-1); 10 A Reid, 11 M Stanfield, 12 D Crilly (0-2, one free); 13 C Judge (0-1), 14 A Hoey (0-3, one free), 15 S Lennon (0-1). Substitutes: 17 A Page for J Neary (41 mins), 18 J Murray (0-1) for D Crilly (43 mins), 20 B White (0-1) for A Reid (52 mins), 22 B Donnelly for M Stanfield (60 mins)

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).