Dublin cruise past Westmeath to make Leinster semi-final

Dublin 1-22 Westmeath 0-09: A lovely sunny June evening and an easy stroll for Dublin in Croke Park, one small step in the defence of their Leinster football title – one giant setback for the recent progress of Westmeath.

Westmeath arrived with genuine ambitions of rattling those title hopes but instead were soundly beaten – not helped by their own suddenly strange inadequacies and minor case of stage fright.

Before a combined attendance of 33,008 (Kildare getting past Offaly in the first quarter-final, 0-19 to 1-12), Dublin hit the firm ground running and never let up: leading 0-12 to 0-4 at the break, five of their six starting forwards scoring from play in the first 22 minutes alone. Paddy Andrews helped himself to three points, and Paul Flynn to two.

Looking terribly nervous, and coughing up possession at a dangerous rate, Westmeath didn’t score until 24 minutes, when Denis Glennon finally moved into some space.

Dessie Dolan didn’t start due to injury, and that further limited their scoring potential.

Dublin increased the onslaught in the second half, Ciaran Kilkenny chipping into to ensure all six forwards scored with play.

Bernard Brogan’s free-taking was spot on, too, hitting four frees (and three from play), before retiring on the hour.

Andrews then signed it all off with a brilliant goal, picking his spot in the top right corner – and in front of the satisfied Hill 16 crowd, too.

“Yeah it was good to get the ball rolling,” man-of-the-match Paul Flynn told RTÉ, before dismissing the pressure that routinely surrounds Dublin football at this time of year.

“All the expectation is on ourselves, when we have lads pushing each other, we have high expectations of ourselves.”

It’s a four-week break for Dublin now before they face Kildare in the Leinster semi-final on June 30th. For Westmeath it’s a difficult wait until the qualifiers.