Dublin centre back David Henry earned his team a replay at Cusack Park, Mullingar, yesterday evening when he careered through the Westmeath defence to slot over an equalising point in the final minute.
The sides were level - Westmeath 0-6, Dublin 1-3 - at the break but then points from Mark Thompson, Shane Martin and David Donnelly eased Dublin into a three-point lead.
Westmeath got on top in the last quarter and four excellent points from Andrew Mitchell gave them a 0-10 to 1-6 lead but then came Henry's equalising point.
Westmeath: B Conaty; D Barry, B Murtagh, S Murtagh; D Curley, V Bateman, G Gavin; S McDonnell, G Jackson; A Farrell (0-1), A Mitchell (0-7), A Mangan; J McGuinness, G Geoghegan (0-2), K Brazil. Sub: J Shaw for Mangan.
Dublin: E Curley; R Potts, M Breathnach, C McCaffrey; K Ryan, D Henry (0-1), A de Paor; J Cullen, R Brennan; E Dunne, S Martin (0-2), D Russell (0-2); B Condron, M Thompson (0-1), D Donnelly (1-1). Subs: F Armstrong for Brennan, P Meehan for Condron, C Daly for Meehan.
Referee: P Delaney (Laois).