Dublin 1-16 Westmeath 1-6:Dublin had only to play for 35 minutes to dismantle an inexperienced Westmeath team and put this O'Byrne Cup quarter-final tie to bed at a rain-drenched Parnell Park on Saturday night.
The only possible satisfaction the visitors could salvage from the exercise lay in the fact that they outscored Dublin by five points to four in the second half after trailing by 1-12 to 1-1 at the interval.
Dublin's second-half performance was as different as chalk and cheese to their dominant first-half display and it is likely to be a big concern for their backroom team.
The second half produced nothing but scrappy football and Louth referee David Kneel showed a plethora of yellow cards.
Not only was the score out of reach for Westmeath after Dublin's rampant first-half display but in terms of actual play, they were quite unimpressive.
Their first-half goal came after 13 minutes completely against the run of play by Michael Green who tacked on a point no less than 22 minutes later.
Within a minute of Green finding the Dublin net, Declan O'Mahony, one of the heroes on the night, rattled the visitors' net after a perfect pass from Bernard Brogan.
The Dublin manager Paul Caffrey and selectors Dave Billings and Paul Clarke looked on approvingly as their side overwhelmed the visitors with Eamonn Fennell and Shane Ryan completely dominating the midfield sector.
Further on O'Mahony was leading the attack with intelligence and composure with Jason Sherlock and Bernard Brogan repeatedly posing problems for the busy Westmeath defenders.
Dublin's second-half collapse after asserting so much authority in the opening half was quite inexplicable. Corner back Stephen O'Shaughnessy rejected any suggestion that his colleagues had problems in finding motivation. O'Shaughnessy said: "No player on the Dublin panel needs motivation once he puts that jersey on. There are too many players only waiting to get into the team."
Certainly Caffrey and his backroom team would appear to have great options at centrefield even before Ciarán Whelan returns to the fold. Fennell, Ryan and O'Mahony have already put down strong claims for a place in that sector.
Ryan and Colm Moran sustained injuries which forced them to leave the field and that was a cause for concern in the Dublin camp. Billings said: "I am a little apprehensive about these injuries because I believe that neither of these two fellows would leave the field with minor injuries.
"We are happy to be in the next round, the semi-finals. Our objective is always to go out and play to full potential and win our matches.
"Conditions were poor out there today for both teams and regarding the semi-finals we are easy on who we get, be it either Wexford or Carlow," added Billings.
Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta was not pleased with his side's efforts and knows that they will need to up their game for next month's rematch: "I hope we can improve by the time we return here to play Dublin in the National League on February 2nd. There were few things I was happy about but it was encouraging to see Dessie Dolan, Gary Connaughton and John Keane do well in the conditions."
Basically Ó Flatharta's youthful team were hoping to reproduce on the senior scene the type of form they showed in their glory days at underage level. But Dublin, especially in their first-half performance, seriously undermined the visitors' confidence.
Sherlock, who scored five points in a fine performance, was deservedly given a rousing ovation from the loyal Dublin supporters when he came off in the second half.
The Dublin camp named Alan Brogan, the third of the Brogan brothers, as team captain for the day but surprisingly he took no part in the action as he never left the bench.
DUBLIN: J Leonard; N O'Shea, R McConnell, S O'Shaughnessy; C Moran, P Brogan (0-1), M Murray;E Fennell, S Ryan (0-1); D Lally (0-2), P Burke, B Brogan (0-4, two frees); J Sherlock (0-5), D O'Mahony (1-2, one pointed free), P Flynn. Subs: P Casey for Moran; B Cullen for Ryan; D Ryan for Burke; B O'Brien (0-1) for Sherlock.
WESTMEATH: G Connaughton; G Quinn, C Gavin, J Keane; D Harte, D Heavin, A Whitney; A Clinton, N Kilmartin; F Wilson (0-3, frees), T Cleary, M Gorman; M Greene (1-1), D Dolan (0-2, one free), D Bannon. Subs: K Scally for Gorman: J Leavy for Kilmartin; D Deegan for Bannon.
Referee: D Knell (Louth).
