CRUISE CONTROL New format but same challenge for rivals as Dublin blitz Westmeath
WINNING the Sam Maguire involves a sprint through the shadows to a Christmas finish in 2020.
Dublin have won the title at a canter and in gripping finales, when they were raging favourites and, once upon a time, when they were underdogs.
This was never going to be a meaningful test but their first outing showed a team moving in an ominously familiar way, despite the global and local disruption they have confronted. Having triumphed in different conditions, they look well placed to claim one in the midst of a pandemic, too.
Nothing that happened here diminishes their status as favourites for the competition.
Dublin led by five points by the first water-break, 0-7 to 0-2, and they were predictably dominant.
They had Jason Daly’s kick-out under immediate pressure, their defenders were breaking freely into attack, and Ciarán Kilkenny and Dean Rock led the attack with characteristic economy.
This was all to be expected, and the dark, cold night merely provided a novel setting for a very old story.
Dublin long ago out-grew their province, and one blessing of the compacted Championship season is that their rampage through it will be quickly concluded this month.
This is no ordinary year, no ordinary competition, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about this instalment, either.
Jonny Cooper lorded ball at centre half-back for Dublin, winning possession under no pressure, galloping forward as he saw fit and, along with Eoin Murchan and John Small, helping to overload a beleaguered Westmeath defence when they felt like it.
None of this was a shock. Dublin are masterful at this stuff, and there was nothing different about how they presented themselves on Dessie Farrell’s debut as senior manager.
This was Farrell’s team but it was a performance shaped by the Jim Gavin years.
Perhaps that will be Farrell’s secret this year: having the humility to let Gavin’s template serve his needs, trusting in the proven lieutenants to discharge their duties and challenging the best of the rest to solve a problem that has stumped everyone for six years.
Cooper, Rock, Kilkenny, Brian Fenton and James McCarthy were all typically effective.
There was a bit more mouthing at the referee than we have come to expect from the champions, which was a departure from the Gavin years when Dublin players rarely jawed at the officials.
This, though, is only a matter of house-keeping, and it won’t derail any six-in-a-row plans.
Westmeath had the meagre consolation of finishing the half with its best score, a sliced point from the left by Ray Connellan. It left the score 0-15 to 0-6 at the break, the game’s competitive element already quenched.
Westmeath are an improving side who kept their place in Division 2 for next season, and they played some decent football in spurts last night. John Heslin, Kieran Martin and Ronan O’Toole showed well at times. Collectively, though, they were never going to be a match for the Dubs.
When McCarthy kicked Dublin 0-17 to 0-6 in front after 43 minutes, he was their tenth scorer of the night. Heslin and Martin kicked two smashing points for Westmeath in the third quarter, but by then Dublin were in complete control, and Farrell was starting to turn towards his replacements.
The incident that might have gone closest to quickening the pulse of the Dublin manager involved Kilkenny with 10 minutes to play, when he was cheaply dunted in the back by Connellan and collided with another Westmeath player as a result.
He needed treatment but returned to the game, shooting over his fifth point of the match shortly after.
Stephen Cluxton presided over it all, looking a certainty to win his 16th Leinster Championship. That speaks to both his tremendous career but also to the absence of meaningful competition in the province now.
It has long been argued, with merit, that he is Dublin’s most influential player. Fenton and Kilkenny now rival him for that.
Murchan, the presumed successor to Jack McCaffrey, limped off looking decidedly uncomfortable with the match almost spent, appearing to suffer a leg injury.
The risk of physical discomfort was the only menace to Dublin here.
The match went as expected. The champions moved as we presumed they would. The format has changed. The challenge for everyone else has not.
Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan (E Lowndes 66), T Lahiff, M Fitzsimons (D Byrne 55); J Small, J Cooper, R McDaid; B Fenton, J McCarthy; S Bugler (B Howard 49), C Kilkenny, N Scully (A Byrne 60); P Small (C Costello 50), C O’Callaghan, D Rock.
Scorers: D Rock 0-7 (6f) C Kilkenny 0-5, C O’Callaghan, S Bugler 0-2 each, N Scully, E Murchan, J Cooper, R McDaid, J McCarthy, P Small 0-1 each.
WeStmeath: J Daly; J Smith, K Maguire, B Sayeh; J Gonoud, R Wallace, J Dolan; S Duncan, R Connellan; D Lynch (C McCormack 52), R O’Toole (B Kelly 70), K Daly; L Loughlin (A McGivney 60), J Heslin, K Martin (L Dolan 54).
Scorers: J Heslin 0-4 (3f), L Loughlin, R Connellan 0-2 each, R O’Toole, K Martin, J Smith 0-1 each.
Yellow cards: S Duncan (40), R Connellan 61. Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)