LEINSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL Dublin 0-13 Westmeath1-8:SOMETHING - including something worrying - for everyone at Croke Park yesterday: Westmeath pushed the champions hard in this Leinster football semi-final but at times were guilty of panic when greater composure might have sprung the surprise.
For their part, Dublin got the win against serious opponents but also popped open a box of problems that will require much thought in the weeks ahead.
This was a tense and fractured match, low-scoring and increasingly nervy as the finishing line loomed into view. From the start of the final quarter when Collie Moran pushed Dublin ahead at 0-11 to 1-7, for 15 minutes both sides shot blanks from a series of good chances.
Dessie Dolan and Conal Keaney would have got the Oscars for blowing close-range frees but there were other chances that came to nothing as a result of good defending and jittery shooting.
The statistics are more damning of Westmeath, who started strongly to punish Dublin's early chaotic defending. By the 14th minute they had scored 1-4 - which means they managed just four points in nearly an hour of play thereafter. Few enough matches are going to be won on that scoring rate.
Equally illustrative is the return for Dolan and Denis Glennon, the only forwards on their team to score, who managed just four points from play between them.
Westmeath went into this semi-final with a couple of proven assets: a tight, smothering defensive system and a couple of high-class forwards to make the best of what came their way. On the debit side, one of their most influential players, centrefielder Martin Flanagan, was injured and only able to come on for the final 15 minutes.
Initially that did not appear to be hurting, as Dublin accumulated their own injury problems. Shane Ryan got a crack on the nose in the fifth minute and was momentarily pole-axed while the ball ended up with Denis Glennon, who kicked Westmeath's equaliser of Keaney's early free.
Ryan was temporarily replaced by Ciarán Whelan, a move that was repeated for most of the third quarter before Whelan officially came on as replacement for Eamonn Fennell. In all Whelan played well over half an hour although only introduced as a full replacement for 15 minutes.
According to Dublin's management, Ryan's injury was severe and necessitated the lengthy use of a temporary replacement. The dynamic Naomh Mearnóg man was a definite loss; his movement and link-work between defence and attack - and effective relationship with Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs - were missed in his absence.
In the 17th minute Bernard Brogan pulled up in mid-flight down the left wing, hopped to a halt with a hamstring injury that required his almost immediate withdrawal and replacement by Diarmuid Connolly.
But Dublin's main concern in the first quarter was the failure of the backs to close down the opposing attack. Ross McConnell was again finding his full forward too hot to handle and was switched off Glennon.
In his place David Henry went on to have an impressive match, diverting his attention from Dolan, who played quite deep at the start - a tactic that actually allowed the Dublin corner back outscore him from play while he was marking him thanks to a well-taken point when counterattacking, as well as set up Tomás Quinn for a clear shot at goal that went wide.
Collateral damage from Ryan's coming and going arrived in the shape of a productive period for Westmeath's centrefielder Donal O'Donoghue, who exploited Whelan's attempts to get to the pace of the match by popping a ball in behind the defence, enabling wing back Michael Ennis to get a marvellous touch and divert the ball back across goal into the net.
O'Donoghue then set up Glennon for a point and the challengers led 1-2 to 0-1, and within a few minutes by 1-4 to 0-1.
It looked potentially disastrous for the champions. But the defence stabilised and bit by bit the forwards began to chip away at the deficit. Alan Brogan had a quiet day by his best standards but what ball he got was well used in terms of passing or drawing frees.
On the 40 Jason Sherlock did not see an awful lot of ball and wasn't using possession as well as he usually does.
But a major factor in rekindling the Dublin threat was Westmeath's deep cover defence. Dublin were too quick and strong to allow the massed ranks string together much support running, and at times Tomás Ó Flatharta's team flirted with disaster, getting bottled up and losing ball in contact.
Points from Henry, Brogan and Connolly plus frees kicked by Quinn and Keaney closed the gap and at the break the sides were level, 0-8 to 1-5.
In a move that seemed to reignite Dolan, Dublin manager Paul Caffrey introduced Paul Casey, dropped earlier in the week, to take over from McConnell on the Westmeath captain. Casey was as usual wholehearted but inclined to madcap interludes like pushing his marker over the sideline when Dolan was effectively trapped.
Dublin's defence, however, was not the problem. Dolan still managed just one point from play in the second half, whereas Henry kept Glennon quiet, including with one fine piece of shadowing in the 57th minute that forced a wide.
Bryan Cullen thrived in the scrappy exchanges, fastening on to loose ball, in particular a 47th-minute cut-out of a dangerous ball in behind the full-back line. But up front opportunities were squandered. The revolving centrefield had, however, a far better second half, Whelan taking on the big possessions in the last 10 minutes.
It was only in the dying stages that Dublin even vaguely stamped their authority. Sherlock was rewarded for perseverance with a point to put them two ahead and in the 70th minute Barry Cahill fisted the 13th point. Glennon's free took the scoreboard back within Westmeath's range but Dublin closed out the remaining minute to qualify for a seventh Leinster final this decade.
DUBLIN: 1 S Cluxton; 2 D Henry (0-1), 3 R McConnell, 4 S O'Shaughnessy; 5 C Moran (0-1), 6 B Cullen, 7 B Cahill (0-1); 8 E Fennell, 9 S Ryan; 10 P Flynn, 11 J Sherlock (0-1), 12 B Brogan; 13 A Brogan (capt; 0-1), 14 C Keaney (0-2, two frees), 15 T Quinn (0-3, all frees). Subs: 20 D Connolly (0-2)for B Brogan (17 mins), 17 P Casey for McConnell (half-time), 19 M Vaughan for Flynn (half-time), 18 C Whelan (0-1)for Fennell (55 mins), 25 B McManamon for Quinn (65 mins).
WESTMEATH: 1 G Connaughton; 2 F Boyle, 3 K Gavin, 4 J Keane; 6 D Heavin, 5 M Ennis (1-0), 7 D Healy; 8 D O'Donoghue, 9 D Duffy; 10 F Wilson, 11 J Smyth, 12 D Harte; 13 D Dolan (capt; 0-5, three frees), 14 Denis Glennon (0-3, one free), 15 D Bannon. Subs: 17 A Mangan for Bannon (15 mins), 28 M Flanagan for Smith (57 mins), 18 David Glennon for Wilson (67 mins).
YELLOW CARDS: Dublin: Moran (15 mins), Fennell (24 mins), Sherlock (26 mins), Vaughan (50 mins). Westmeath: Smith (30 mins). RED CARDS: None.
Referee: Pádraig Hughes(Armagh).
Attendance: 67,075.
