All-Ireland champions Dublin have booked their place in the Leinster SFC final for the seventh year on the bounce following a facile 31-point provincial semi-final victory over Westmeath at Croke Park.
Jim Gavin’s side enjoyed 1-15 to 0-05 half-time lead, with Dean Rock palming the ball to the Westmeath net in the 28th minute, while Eoghan O’Gara, Ciarán Kilkenny and Kevin McManamon all raised green flags in the second half as the Dubs recorded their largest Championship win since dismissing Longford by 27 points two years ago.
The lopsided 4-29 to 0-10 result is also Dublin’s biggest margin of victory under Gavin in Championship action.
While Westmeath attempted to play a fairly open and expansive game in the first half, Cribbin’s side did not have much joy from their tactics as Dublin eased into a comfortable lead in the quarter hour approaching half-time.
The Dubs had two half-chances on goal in the opening quarter, Con O’Callaghan seeing his soccer-style shot saved by Westmeath keeper Darren Quinn on 14 minutes after being played in by Eric Lowndes while a Rock effort was blocked down by Frank Boyle a minute later before the Dubs dead-ball specialist converted the resulting 45.
By this stage, the All-Ireland champions had taken a 0-07 to 0-04 lead with O’Callaghan, Paddy Andrews and Paul Mannion all lively presences in attack when making their mark on the scoreboard.
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John Heslin and Kieran Martin replied with scores for Westmeath, the latter kicking arguably the finest point of the opening half in the 12th minute after bamboozling Johnny Cooper and Michael Fitzsimons with some fancy footwork at the Canal End.
However, Heslin’s influence was tapered by the attention of Cian O’Sullivan, who performed a diligent man-marking job on the St Loman’s club man prior to James McCarthy taking up that task in the second half.
The Westmeath net was breached just before the half hour when Rock slapped the ball past Quinn after Lowndes had rambled through the centre of the opposition defence.
Three Heslin wides did not help the Lake County’s cause and three points on the stroke of half-time via Mannion and Kilkenny helped Dublin to take a 13-point lead into the break.
At the start of the second half substitute Eoghan O’Gara showed typically bullish strength to hold off Killian Daly and field a Niall Scully delivery, with the Dubs substitute blasting past Quinn.
Gavin welcomed the opportunity to introduce a number of subs, with Bernard Brogan, McManamon, David Byrne and Shane Carthy all stretching their legs off the bench midway through the second half, while Raheny’s Brian Howard also made his first Championship appearance.
Holding Westmeath to just five points in both halves, Dublin ran riot in the final quarter as the game took on the appearance of an exhibition with Mannion a standout performer, kicking eight points in total, including five second-half scores.
To add to Westmeath’s woes, substitute Noel Mulligan was shown a black card late on after Cribbin had already used his allocation of subs, and salt was rubbed into the wounds when McManamon and Kilkenny bagged late goals to rub salt in their wounds.
Dublin progress to a July 16 Leinster final clash with Kildare, while a dejected Westmeath drop into the qualifiers.
Dublin scorers: D Rock 1-05 (3f, 2 ’45), P Mannion 0-08, C Kilkenny 1-03, K McManamon 1-1, C E O’Gara 1-00, O’Callaghan 0-03, P Andrews 0-02, B Fenton 0-02, S Carthy 0-02, B Brogan 0-02 (1f), J McCaffrey 0-01.
Dublin: S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons (D Byrne 44), J Cooper (S Carthy 44), E Lowndes; N Scully (K McManamon 47), C O’Sullivan, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, J McCarthy; C Kilkenny, P Andrews (E O’Gara ht), P Mannion; D Daly, C O’Callaghan (B Howard 61), D Rock (B Brogan 47).
Westmeath scorers: J Heslin 0-04 (3f), K Martin 0-03, J Egan 0-02, G Egan 0-01,
Westmeath: D Quinn; J Gonoud, K Maguire, K Daly (C Boyle 51); M McCallon, F Boyle, J Dolan; A Gaughan (N Mulligan ht), G Egan; C McCormack (K Reilly 49), P Sharry (D Glennon 57), K Martin; D Lynch (A Stone 65), J Heslin, J Egan (S Corcoran 53).Referee: C Lane (Cork).
Referee: C Lane (Cork).
