GAELIC GAMES: HOLY GUACAMOLE! What just happened Batman? Were the footballers of Westmeath just vaporised before our very eyes? Seems that way.
“We let ourselves down. We let the county down. It’s just embarrassing,” said Westmeath captain John Keane.
He was speaking of a 27-point dismantlement – 4-26 to 0-11 – by a Dublin team which never reads the papers but seems to have taken to heart the media’s chidings about their poor shooting in the first-round game against Meath.
Biff! Pow! Take that! Three points rat-a-tatted over in the first 100 seconds after the throw-in set the standard. And if some of Westmeath’s defending reminded one of the physical comedy of Jacques Tati, Dublin’s relentless hunger for more scores was a sight to behold.
In front of a slightly disappointing crowd of 51,458, Dublin went about their business with a new style which bears the influence of coach Mickey Whelan in the fluency of both the foot and hand-passing and the constant searching for options and space.
As such they made a lot of the scoring work look easy, particularly in the first half when they cut through Westmeath’s defence repeatedly and had complete dominion over the midfield patch.
It’s a style of play which rewards the smarter footballer. At times against Meath Dublin snatched at the game and fell back on old habits. Yesterday, convinced by the tonic of a fine start, they stuck to the patterns.
Jason Sherlock, the veteran forward, finished the day with six points kicked from play. Never in his long, long career have Sherlock’s smart, off-the-ball runs yielded so many opportunities. And beside him Bernard Brogan finished with 2-8 to his name, all but five points coming from play.
Dublin even had the luxury of springing a succession of crowd favourites from the bench. Mossy Quinn (who scored a useful 1-1 during his cameo), Bryan Cullen, Ciarán Whelan and Shane Ryan all got playing time and contributed to the sense that Dublin are building a panel of some depth for the challenges ahead.
If there was one worry it was the scoring of the two Westmeath corner forwards, John Connellan and Conor Lynam, both of whom threatened damage every time Westmeath smuggled them the ball. Dublin will know that there will be more serious questions asked of their full back line before the summer is done.
For Westmeath it was an afternoon to be suffered through and escaped from.
For Dublin, a county which needs the swagger that goals bring, the net was shaken four times and the Blues played with a celebratory efficiency which suits them well.
Dublin teams should be expansive and confident. That’s how they looked yesterday, and in the second half, reassured about the victory, they went looking for goals at the Hill end.
Thus we get a Leinster final which looks a good deal more intriguing than any of the football which preceded it this summer. Dublin face the Kildare side of Kieran McGeeney knowing the Armagh man has infused in his charges a toughness and cleverness which they haven’t encountered in Leinster in recent years.
For the Leinster Council, much relief too. A good Kildare side always bring strong crowds. The evidence of 30,000 vacant seats yesterday was that people won’t pay money anymore for a game they don’t anticipate to be competitive.
“We won the Leinster final by a similar score last year to what we won by today,” said Dublin captain Paul Griffin. “But against Tyrone we were a little bit flat. We can’t affect the way other teams will play. We can’t decide how Westmeath will play. We just have to do it ourselves.
“There is a lot to learn even from a performance like that. All we can do is to play as well as we can for as long as we can.”
They managed that yesterday. They find themselves in a familiar position for this time of year. A Leinster final beckoning, but knowing that no matter how tough it may be for a team with ambition (be it themselves or Kildare), the real challenges begin in August.
Still, interesting times in Gotham City.
