Westmeath - 1-14 Carlow - 0-10: So Westmeath have set up a rematch against their lordly neighbours from Boyne country, but on yesterday's evidence many will wonder if last year's magic has gone.

Don't be deceived by the sturdy scoreline; this was a flat start by Westmeath. Not much point in being the team of last summer now that this year's extravaganza is up and running.

For long periods, the maroon faithful peered across the plains of O'Moore Park, mystified at the lack of chutzpah. Perhaps the recent lessons learned at top-flight league school were sobering for Luke Dempsey's young charges. This year is less about adventure than realisation and the real pressure starts now.

Despite a very ordinary performance, Westmeath simply had too much for Carlow, who hung around with the grim tenacity of a TD at a wake. It made for dismal and error-ridden entertainment that is too often explained away as the cut and thrust of the championship.

The Westmeath crowd's scope of summer ambition audibly receded over an abject first half. Over oranges, Carlow must have been the more contented lot and had Westmeath continued to fire wides at the velocity with which they began, then Carlow might have orchestrated a passage to glory.

But JP Casey hit two quick points, fisting a first over the bar before landing a free to give Westmeath a 0-7 to 0-4 advantage and from then the script was easily read. Casey went on to establish himself as the star turn in an out-of-sorts Westmeath attack and popped on the opposite wing to land a brilliant score on 56 minutes which left Carlow 0-6 to 0-12 in arrears.

What will please Luke Dempsey is that the fundamentals are still sound. David Mitchell went through a few queasy minutes when full forward Johnny Nevin took him roaming, but for all the possession the feisty Carlow man won Mitchell gave him nothing.

Elsewhere, the defence was equally resistant, with Paul Conway immense at centre back and John Keane a lively contributor at both ends.

Westmeath have bulked up since last year and Shane Colleary's size and athleticism benefits an attack too often defined by silkiness. Colleary worked savagely throughout and was rewarded late on when he got to tap home the only goal, a well-taken one in the 71st minute.

The score originated from a sauntering run by Rory O'Connell, who flicked a pass for Martin Flanagan. His quick turn and low, clever ball was tailored for Colleary to chase down.

Flanagan almost scored one of his customary early-season super strikes in the 12th minute when he sprinted onto a floated handpass from Dessie Dolan and drew the ooohs with a spectacular lash from 30 metres. It thundered back off the crossbar and Dolan finished with a point. At times after that, Westmeath repeatedly eased through the Carlow back six but seemed intent on either killer goals or points from the next parish. The wide tally quickly accelerated.

Carlow were more discriminating but had their own problems. While Garvan Ware and Stephen O'Brien performed heroically around the middle, the forwards played too deep and were easily covered.

Mark Carpenter kept them in touch with two first-half scores but the finishing threat was weak. In the final quarter, Brian Kelly found his kicking touch and landed a pair of fine scores and Thomas Walsh also contributed to a Carlow effort that laudably never faded but similarly was never going to be enough.

In the final 10 minutes they sought goals and could have been rewarded. Aidan Lennon first deftly caught a deceptive cross ball and, just after Colleary's goal strike, executed a marvellous save from Brian Farrell's fine shot.

But Carlow will be disappointed. This must have been the calendar date that drove them through the dark months of running and they never quite succeeded in questioning the anticipated outcome. By the time John Hickey - increasingly troubled by Casey's soaring confidence - was replaced, Carlow were on the back foot, having slipped into the quicksand of a six-point deficit.

That they were conspicuously overrun in very few sectors, that they stayed in touch, that they kept fighting, will all be of scant consolation to Carlow, for whom such seasonal platitudes are nothing new. They have reached that infuriating hinterland that has them competing with the fancied teams without deeply troubling them. Sooner or later they will need to take the big scalp, but if yesterday represented their best it is hard to see how.

Now all attention will turn to Meath and Westmeath. Will Westmeath summon the witchcraft again? Maybe it is the sight of the green and gold, the sound of border accents that have crushed them too often that inspires.

But it is worth remembering that after all the drama and colour of last year's spectacle between the north Leinster neighbours, the status quo prevailed. Westmeath won hearts, but big bad Meath won what mattered.

And Westmeath can justifiably wave away the inadequacies of this preliminary as rustiness or early season tension. They won, after all, and the championship is more about endurance now than anything.

But an inescapable confrontation with the truth beckons for them. What about Westmeath 2002? What do they stand for now?

WESTMEATH: 1 A Lennon; 2 D Healy, 3 D Mitchell, 4 F Murray; 5 B Morley, 6 P Conway, 7 J Keane; 8 R O'Connell, 9 D O'Shaughnessy; 10 K Ryan, 11 M Flanagan, 12 S Colleary; 13 J Fallon, 14 D Dolan, 15 JP Casey. Substitutions: 18 D Heavin for 2 D Healy (2 mins, inj ); 20 M Ennis for 13 J Fallon (43 mins); AS Mangan for J Ryan (70 mins).

CARLOW: 1 J Clarke; 2 J Hickey, 3 B Farrell, 4 A Corden; 5 J Kavanagh, 6 S O'Brien, 7 J Hayden; 8 P Kiernan, 9 G Ware; 10 M Carpenter, 11 W Quinlan, 12 S Kavanagh; 13 T Walsh, 14 J Nevin, 15 B Kelly. Substitutes: 18 J Byrne for 5 J Kavanagh (31 mins); A Bowe for S Kavanagh (54 mins); M Drea for J Hickey (57 mins); J McGrath for P Kiernan (66 mins).