Dublin find extra gear against Westmeath

Dublin 0-14
Westmeath 1-7

Jim Gavin must love it when a plan comes together. Two wins out of two, both casual like, Dublin now head into the three-week league hiatus looking like a team with very little done, and so much more to give.

Fighting hard to win against Westmeath may not be exactly the way he planned this, but Gavin’s team are of course in for the long haul: “We’ve a bank of games in March,” noted the Dublin manager, “and we’re 17 weeks away from championship” – as if confirming that everything is indeed going to plan.

No such comforts for Westmeath – who with two defeats out of two, must be wondering if a three-week break is a good or bad thing. They may have deprived Dublin any goals, and were actually a point in front on 55 minutes, yet now head into their hiatus looking like a team with a lot done, and little more to give.

"We worked really hard," said Westmeath manager Paul Bealin. "To say Dublin were vulnerable is something you'd find difficult, or unusual to say, but I think the game was there to be closed out. Every game for us is extremely difficult, and Derry away, next, will be no different. But look, to be beaten by four points, and while I hate losing games, it's an improvement on last week."

New responsibilities
Bealin mightn't be as concerned if he had the same rake of players to come back as Dublin do. Again, Gavin handed out some new responsibilities to go with the old, and although Cormac Costello was a late withdrawal, Ciarán Reddin lay down a marker with two first-half points, as did substitute Paul Hudson, who hit four points – three from play – as Gavin once again emptied his bench.

Ciarán Kilkenny must running on rocket fuel this days, his non-stop effort including three frees and a man-of-the-match award, while never far from the action. Stephen Cluxton stepped up for his usual (sending over three-placed balls), while Michael Darragh Macauley and Paul Flynn were both handed glorious goal chances early in the second half, only for Darren Quinn to pull off the heroics for Westmeath.

That – and some good early scores from John Heslin – kept Westmeath in touch for a long while, even if they closed out the last 23 minutes of the first half without any score. Then, within seconds of being introduced, Dessie Dolan struck a brilliant goal with the inside of his right foot, nicely set up by Heslin and Ger Egan. So that levelled it (0-7 to 1-4) before Westmeath inched ahead, again thanks to Heslin, who ended up starting despite nursing an ankle injury.

Winning position
Yet that was the call for Dublin to flex a little more muscle. Hudson – on for McManamon – hit two points in as many minutes, and with fellow substitute Davy Byrne helped to ease Dublin back into a winning position.

“Dublin’s bench made a big difference,” added Bealin. “They have that in abundance, and it’s something that we don’t really have. And I know Dublin football. I’ve been looking at it for the last 20 years. If you give Dublin space inside, they will cause all sorts of problems. We tried to make sure that if we had a sixth or seventh player in there, and we did that, made sure they didn’t create too many goal opportunities.”

Truth is Dublin took even less chances – ending up with 14 wides – which Gavin admitted was “just areas to work on”: Alan Brogan was rested again after his return against Kerry the previous week, and while Paul Mannion did start alongside Eoghan O’Gara, neither looked sharp.

All of this meant Dublin certainly were vulnerable, and it may well have been a different result had Westmeath not found themselves trailing 0-6 to 0-3 at the break, when their effort suggested at least parity.

Westmeath will know too that they can’t keep relying on Dessie Dolan to dig them out of a hole.

His goal should have been the spur to drive them on for victory, and while Ger and John Egan kept the pressure on, and John Gilligan held the defence together, it was Dublin who galloped away over the last 15 minutes of the game.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton (0-3, one free, two 45s); P McMahon, M Fitzsimons, D Nelson; E Lowndes, C O'Sullivan, J Cooper; MD Macauley, S Carty; P Flynn, C Kilkenny (0-3, all frees), C Reddin (0-2); P Mannion, E O'Gara, K McManamon (0-1). Subs: P Hudson (0-4, one free) for McManamon (51 mins), K O'Brien for Nelson (52 mins), D Byrne (0-1) for O'Gara (58 mins), J McCaffrey for Macauley (60 mins), D Watson for Mannion (62 Mins), K Nolan for Cooper (67 mins).
WESTMEATH: D Quinn; K Maguire, K Gavin, S Gilmore; J Gonoud, J Gilligan, J Dolan; D Duffy, D Corroon; G Egan, J Egan, P Sharry; K Martin (0-1), D Glennon, J Heslin (0-5, three frees). Subs: R Connellan (0-1) for Corroon (25 mins), Dessie Dolan (1-0) for Martin (48 mins), C McCormack for Gonoud (62 mins), Damian Dolan for Gilmore (67 mins), D McCormack for Glennon (70 mins).
Referee: David Gough (Meath).