Dublin: 2-19 S Connell, C Whelan 0-5 each; W McCarthy 1-1 (point from free); C Moran 1-0; J Sherlock, E Sheehy 0-2 each; S Ryan, V Murphy, P Curran, D Homan 0-1 each.

Longford: 1-13 P Davis 1-5 (goal, four points from frees); J Martin 0-2 (one free); P Barden 0-2; D Barden, T Smullen, E Ledwith, D Blessington 0-1 each.

Referee: Michael Collins (Cork).

Attendance: 31,539

It was a close brooding afternoon at Croke Park yesterday and for the longest while the football didn't even stir up the dust. Dublin and Longford swam through the heavy air, each team dutifully conforming to its pre-assigned role. Dublin were due to win. Longford, in the city after a generation-long absence, were happy to be here. Reading anything into it is probably a useless exercise. The game never caught a breeze, never seized the imagination. Both sides had their mitigating circumstances. Longford for their part never believed they would win. They spent the spring dreaming of beating Louth and getting to Croke Park. Mission accomplished, they came, they saw.

Dublin had some heavy-duty absentees. With Colin Moran back fully fit, perhaps Ian Robertson restored to health and playing at centre back where he belongs, and with Jonny Magee at midfield beside Ciaran Whelan, Dublin might come to the sum of their parts. That is with Dessie Farrell shedding his strange tentativeness and Shane Ryan getting back and Senan Connell playing again like he did yesterday and Declan Darcy blooming again . . .

There are so many contingencies on Dublin's progress right now that perhaps it's best just to wait until they meet Offaly in three weeks' time.

There were positives, especially after a dire first half was dispensed with. Whelan was the best player on view, taking a glutton's share of the ball in midfield and galloping through the Longford defence at will to help himself to five points.

Early on that had looked an unlikely total for anybody to finish with. Dublin kicked like men with Toblerone feet, running in four wides in the first eight minutes, Enda Sheehy the only one to score in a period of sustained pressure. Longford for their part made tentative forays upfield and, to their surprise, scored each time. Enda Ledwith, James Martin and Paul Barden had them three points to one up after 10 minutes. Instead of seizing the initiative, though, Longford seemed to wait to see what would happen. Whelan happened. He scored his first point of the day in the 10th minute, then seconds later cherrypicked yet another high one and fed it to Jason Sherlock. The Longford full back line were squawking with alarm by now. Sherlock moved inside wolfishly and fed Wayne McCarthy, who marked his first championship start with a confidently-taken goal.

After that, both sides waited to see just what would happen. Longford found that Dublin still had the door open at the back and notched up the next three points, the middle one coming after a comical mix-up in the Dublin defence. The sudden glare forcing so many spectators to shade their eyes was the sun hitting Tom Carr's pate as the last of his hair fell out. Midway through the first half and this was a penance of a game. It's not as if Dublin had no ideas, just that their one idea was to pass the ball around until the logo wore off it. Longford watched suspiciously, taking their points when the opportunity arose, waiting for Dublin to come off the ropes and start slapping them hard. Never mind blood substitutes, they needed an entire transfusion of self-belief.

When they look back, Longford will realise ruefully that they could have made a game of this. They have some fine forwards, and a lively half-back line whose main fault is a reluctance to mark tightly. They seldom had difficulty making the connection between defence and attack and a little more derring-do would have served them well. They never believed, though. Pauric Davis, isolated by his confidence throughout, put them a point ahead with two minutes to go before half-time. Going into the break at Croke Park with a lead would have been overwhelming for them. So they conceded three points in quick succession and it was up to Davis to pull one back before they went for tea. In the second half, Dublin hit a little purple patch which killed off the game. Sheehy and Martin had exchanged points early on when, in the 10th minute, Colin Moran took possession (from Whelan of course) about 30 yards out. To his surprise, the highway to goal just opened up. He soloed some of the way and then drove home from about 14 metres, still half-expecting somebody to flatten him. Dublin were keen now. Whelan added two points before Senan Connell took a sublime pass from Vinnie Murphy and turned it into another score. Whelan added another and it was all over bar the shouting.

For Longford, there was just time to reflect that they had never given Niall Sheridan the sort of ball he needs and that their full-back line had conceded two unnecessarily spectacular goals.

Business done, Dublin introduced a raft of substitutes, causing one to reflect that the back-door rules and substitution rules really do make it impossible for anyone bar a big county with a big squad to win through these days.

Dublin will be hoping to augment their squad a little soon. Robertson gets a scan early this week and is hopeful of a return. He is needed.