Dublin break down Westmeath to win 54th Leinster SFC title
Sunday 12 July 2015 19:48, UK
Dublin wore down a defensive-minded Westmeath to win by 2-13 to 0-6 and lift their fifth successive Leinster SFC title.
Jim Gavin’s side struggled to find holes in the Lake County’s blanket defence during the opening period, but they broke Westmeath’s resistance after the restart with two goals in the space of a minute.
Bernard Brogan and Jack McCaffrey found the net for the Dubs, who held Westmeath to two second-half points on their way to a record 54th provincial title.
It was far from vintage stuff from Dublin and 15 wides won’t please their manager, yet they still ran out convincing 13-point victors.
Westmeath set their stall out from the start at Croke Park, piling bodies behind the ball, and they took an early lead through a John Heslin free.
At one stage there was no player wearing maroon inside the Dublin ’45, and that allowed Philly McMahon to come forward and score for the third successive game.
Dublin hit four points in a six-minute purple patch midway through the half, and further scores from Diarmuid Connolly and Ciaran Kilkenny gave Dublin a five-point lead with seven first-half minutes remaining.
Westmeath turned over plenty of possession in the opening period but they had few options in attack, with six attempts dropping short and into the arms of Stephen Cluxton.
Kieran Martin and Heslin grabbed their first scores from play, sandwiching two wides from Dublin, but Kilkenny ensured the Dubs finished the first half on a positive note as his point gave them a 0-8 to 0-4 interval lead.
Any hopes of an upset were put to bed on 50 minutes as Dublin hit two goals in quick succession.
Kilkenny and Paul Flynn combined to the right of goal with the latter passing across to Brogan, who beat Kevin Maguire to punch to the net, and wing-back McCaffrey fired past Darren Quinn from the resultant kickout.
Martin and Frank Boyle replied with points for Westmeath but they didn’t trouble the scoreboard in the final 24 minutes as the game petered out.
Alan Brogan came off the bench to point, with Kilkenny and Brogan adding late scores in an uninspiring final quarter as Dublin cruised to a 10th Leinster title in 11 seasons.
Dublin: S Cluxton; J Cooper, R O’Carroll, P McMahon (0-1); J McCarthy (0-1), C O’Sullivan, J McCaffrey (1-0); B Fenton, MD Macauley (0-1); P Flynn, C Kilkenny (0-3), D Connolly (0-3); D Rock (0-2, 2f), K McManamon, B Brogan (1-1).
Subs: M Fitzsimons for Cooper (ht), P Andrews for McManamon (46), D Bastick for Macauley (50), A Brogan (0-1) for Rock (54), J Small for McMahon (60),
Westmeath: D Quinn; K Daly, K Maguire, J Gilligan; P Holloway, K Martin (0-2), J Dolan; D Corroon, F Boyle (0-1); G Egan, P Sharry, R Connellan; D Lynch, J Heslin (0-3, 2f), S Dempsey.
Subs: P Greville for Lynch (ht), K Gavin for Dempsey (ht), C McCormack for Connellan (51), D Glennon for Holloway (53), J Egan for Heslin (60), J Gonoud for McCormack (63).
Ref: J McQuillan (Cavan).
