Dublin power past Westmeath to win sixth consecutive Leinster SFC title
By Ronan O'Brien
Last Updated: 18/07/16 7:03am
Bernard Brogan turned on the style and helped Dublin to a sixth Leinster football title in a row for the second time in their history as they defeated Westmeath by 2-19 to 0-10 at Croke Park.
The reigning All-Ireland champions were unstoppable in the second half and Brogan helped himself to 1-4 on the way to his tenth winners' medal, as Jim Gavin's side ran out easy winners.
But to their credit, Westmeath caused plenty of trouble for Dublin in the first half and their physicality and hunger for the occasion meant they only trailed by one point at the break.
But they only scored four after the restart, and goals from Brogan and Kevin McManamon wrapped up the victory and the Dubs earned a 55th Leinster title for their county.
After scoring an average of 24 points in their two championship games to date, it was always likely that Dublin would face a defensively-minded team in this Leinster final.
But few people would have imagined that Westmeath's two sweepers would cause so much trouble for the Dublin attack early on. Callum McCormack and Francis Boyle positioned themselves in front of the Westmeath rearguard and they reduced the Dublin attacker's operating room to a minimum - they only scored three points from play before the break.
Crucially, at the other end they performed as well and three frees from John Heslin and a couple of great scores from Ger Egan meant they deserved to only trail by one at half-time.
Westmeath caused a lot of trouble to the Dublin full-back line and earned a few frees from that route, but Dean Rock clipped over four frees to keep Dublin ahead at all times before the interval.
It could have been a far stronger position for Westmeath too had Dublin's Diarmuid Connolly been sent off as he should have been after 31 minutes when he dragged James Dolan to the ground with a dangerous headlock. Instead of flashing red to the Dublin star, referee Fergal Kelly remarkably brandished yellows to both players.
Points from McManamon and Brogan in the space of a minute hinted that Dublin's challenge might have been ignited, but they never showed their best and hardly deserved to lead 0-7 to 0-6 at half-time.
The loss of Ray Connellan to a leg injury was a blow for Westmeath, but after they had tamed the champions for the first half Westmeath deserved to kick on after the restart.
But instead it was Dublin that surged clear. With Rock unerring from frees and Brogan finding room to score a trio of points, Dublin scored nine of the next ten points.
The excellent McCormack pointed for Westmeath, but Brogan palmed to the net after 58 minutes and McManamon found the top corner a minute from time to crown a powerful second-half.
Dublin: S Cluxton; P McMahon, J Cooper, D Byrne; E Lowndes, C O'Sullivan, J Small (0-1); B Fenton, MD Macauley, P Flynn (0-1), C Kilkenny, K McManamon (1-2); D Rock (0-8, 7f), D Connolly (0-1), B Brogan (1-4).
Subs: P Andrews (0-2) for Lowndes (h-t), C O'Callaghan for Macauley (49), D Bastick for Connolly (53), D Daly for Small (57), M Fitzsimons for O'Sullivan (61), P Mannion for Rock (63).
Westmeath: D Quinn; K Maguire, F Boyle, K Daly; J Gonoud, A Stone, J Dolan; D Corroon (0-1), G Egan (0-2); D Lynch, P Sharry, R Connellan; K Martin, J Heslin (0-6, 5f), C McCormack (0-1).
Subs: D Daly for R Connellan (35), S Corcoran for Lynch (53), S Duncan for K Daly (56), J Connellan for Martin (58), R Gorman for Maguire (61), D McNicholas for Sharry (65).
Referee: Fergal Kelly (Longford).
