MATCHFILE

DUBLIN ....................... 2-13

WESTMEATH.................. 0-6

MAN OF THE MATCH

DIARMUID CONNOLLY

The pick of Dublin's five-in-a-row crop, Connolly wins our vote for three sumptuous points and some pinpoint crossfield passes. Not foot-perfect (he had a mid-second half wobble) but narrowly shades Jack McCaffrey and Westmeath's standout player, Paul Sharry.

MANAGER MOVES

JIM GAVIN (Dublin): With the personnel at his disposal, he doesn't have to pull any tactical rabbits out of the hat. His players struggled for a long time to prise open the maroon blanket, but this could prove an invaluable dry run for August. RATING 7

TOM CRIBBIN (Westmeath): Had two weeks to devise - and implement - a game plan to curtail the seemingly unstoppable, and deserves huge kudos for its relative success. Now for the hard part ... adding more potency to a system that involves 13 de facto defenders. RATING 8

REF RATING

JOE McQUILLAN (Cavan): A solid outing. Maybe James McCarthy could have seen yellow in the first half, but Bernard Brogan looked marginally just outside the square for his goal. RATING 7

TEAMSHEET

SCORERS - Dublin: B Brogan 1-1, C Kilkenny, D Connolly 0-3 each, J McCaffrey 1-0, D Rock 0-2f, P McMahon, J McCarthy, MD Macauley, A Brogan 0-1 each. Westmeath: J Heslin 0-3 (2f), K Martin 0-2, F Boyle 0-1.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; J Cooper, R O'Carroll, P McMahon; J McCarthy, C O'Sullivan, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, MD Macauley; P Flynn, C Kilkenny, D Connolly; D Rock, K McManamon, B Brogan. Subs: M Fitzsimons for Cooper (ht), P Andrews for McManamon (47), D Bastick for Macauley (51), A Brogan for Rock (55), J Small for McMahon (61), T Brady for Connolly (65).

WESTMEATH: D Quinn; K Maguire, F Boyle, K Daly; D Lynch, P Sharry, J Dolan; P Holloway, D Corroon; G Egan, R Connellan, J Gilligan; K Martin, S Dempsey, J Heslin. Subs: K Gavin for Dempsey (ht), P Greville for Lynch (ht), C McCormack for Connellan (52), D Glennon for Holloway (53), J Egan for Heslin (inj 62), J Gonoud for McCormack (inj 64).

WIDES: Dublin 16 (7+9); Westmeath 5 (2+3)

YELLOW: Dublin 4 (Macauley 9, Cooper 25, Flynn 65, Bastick 71); Westmeath 1 (Heslin 25).

BLACK: 0

RED: 0

ATT: 47,840