Dublin's final outing prior to Sunday-week's Leinster SF Championship clash with Longford saw Tom Carr's team triumph, 1-13 to 1-10, thanks to a late flourish at Parnell Park last evening.
With regular goalkeeper Davy Byrne still struggling to shrug off a leg injury, it was left to understudy Stephen Cluxton to take the number one jersey and the under21 goalkeeper performed solidly.
A goal from Declan Darcy helped Dublin into the lead early on. Longford got back into the game, however, and centre forward Ollie McDonnell sent over an equalising point on 24 minutes. Dublin went on to take a 1-6 to 0-6 advantage at the break.
Although Longford's Dan Kirwan netted towards the end to put the teams on level terms, Dublin pulled away again with scores from Wayne McCarthy and Enda Sheehy.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; A McMullen, I Clarke, M Casey; P Curran, S Ryan, P Andrews; C Whelan (0-2), E Sheehy; C Donnelly, D Darcy (1-2), K Darcy; N O'Donoghue (0-3), D Farrell (0-2), W McCarthy (0-2). Subs: J Sherlock (0-1) for N O'Donoghue, V Murphy (0-1) for C Donnelly, T Lynch for Clarke, D Magee for Sheehy.
LOUTH: C Nally; S Gerard, A Hoey, D Reilly; D Brennan, S Melia, M Malone; K Reilly (0-1), D Kirwan (1-0); C Kelly (0-1), M Clancy (0- 5), C O'Hanlon (0-1); O McDonnell (0-1), J R Rooney (0-1).
