GAELIC GAMES:THE HOUSE of Blue opened for the summer season yesterday and the matinee show ran along expected lines. After a manful opening period, the visitors from Louth bowed to the inevitable as the Dublin forwards racked up the kind of score most elite hurling teams can only dream about. It finished 1-22 to 0-12, a casually brilliant scoring display from Alan Brogan being the chief second-half diversion.

Some 56,496 people showed up to see if this could be The Year for which Dublin football is crying out. It is, of course, impossible to tell on this evidence. The Dubs were ordinary in the opening act and for three or four minutes they looked downright shambolic.

They scored 0-7 with the benefit of a fair breeze playing away from the Hill during that period. But once they began running toward that sky-blue mass of humanity, the points were flying over and a horrible, horrible mistake from a Louth free-out ended with Brogan palming the 43rd-minute goal that took all the fizz out of the contest.

"That was a bad mistake. They were still in the game at that point but I think it was over after that," acknowledged Brogan afterwards.

From then on, the St Oliver Plunkett's man was on fire. Always an instinctive shooter, yesterday Brogan looked like he would have scored wearing a blindfold.

"Some days I miss a few of those," he smiled. "Thank God, today they went over. And it is nice today to get the strike rate up to 80 per cent. I think we learned something from it.

"We stood off them in the first half and we were really under pressure. But when we step up to it we are good, we are a really good football team. I think there was a lesson to be learned there."

And from the heights of the stands, Dublin looked a picture. Paul Caffrey's notebook would have made interesting reading here. Afterwards, the praise was as scarce as butter in wartime but he did allow that some of the new faces performed well.

"Well, they are going to be part of the future plans of Dublin football," he said. "It is not a closed shop."

Young Eamonn Fennell brought down some spectacular ball from the sky and Conal Keaney showed plenty of the born hurler's bravery in winning low, dirty ball when it was required in the first half.

The Dubs needed direction during that period and David Henry showed the way all through.

So too did Jason Sherlock. Once again, the veteran looked indispensable to the Dublin cause and deserved the rich ovation he got when he was withdrawn on the hour. Aged 32 now, Sherlock still bears comparison to the teenage sensation who seemed almost exotic during his dream summer of 1995. Still chasing that elusive follow-up All-Ireland, he was the puppet master here.

Louth cut a sad sight by the time Sherlock waved to the gallery. Stunned by gifting Dublin a goal from a harmless free out, they were outmuscled and outplayed by their hosts as the Hill went through its repertoire of songs.

"We gave away a stupid goal and you could see from the body language that it was a crushing blow," said a grim-faced manager Eamonn McEneaney from under the brim of a Louth cap.

"A defeat like this is hard to take. We train so hard - as hard as Dublin. But we didn't get the breaks. Some boys did play until the final whistle. Some boys did not. I would be disappointed by that."

And it made a dispiriting sight in the end. Dublin were never less than respectful as they ran up a pinball score and Louth looked so bedraggled that this game was nothing if not proof that, at least in sport, life is seldom fair. Paul Caffrey knows that too.

The future plans of Dublin football? They begin and end with an All-Ireland title. Blowing the Wee County out of Croke Park is just taking care of business.