MAYBE IT’S A sign of Dublin’s strength, and of the standards we expect of the All-Ireland favourites, that we gloss over the positives and instead trawl for faults.
A fifth straight Leinster title, and a 10th in 11 years, represents a stranglehold that is not to be sniffed at.
But their latest provincial crown must be set in context. They beat three Division 3 sides by a combined total of 59 points — hardly the most rigorous test of their September credentials.
In that respect, yesterday’s game was a lose-lose for the Dubs. Hammer Westmeath out the gate and there would be more handwringing about the death of football in Leinster; anything less and there would be questions about why they struggled to run up another cricket score.
In the end they posted 2-13, a total that would win more than championship games than not, but still represented their lowest return in Leinster since Jim Gavin took charge three seasons ago.
That was largely down to Westmeath’s tactics of pulling 13 men behind the ball to contain and frustrate Dublin.
It worked in the first half. The Dubs only managed eight points but when they re-emerged after the break, they sprung like animals possessed and killed the game with 2-2 in the space of five minutes.
Westmeath weren’t the first to deploy a defensive system to stifle them this season, and they won’t be the last. It’s no surprise that Gavin chose Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh as opponents for a challenge match last week.
“The boys relish this challenge,” a satisfied Gavin said on Sunday afternoon.
Coming into the game it was one of the gameplans that we thought (Westmeath) might roll out and they did. I thought we handled it very well.
That much is up for debate.
In the first half especially, Dublin’s performance was littered with errors. The Westmeath blanket sapped the usual pace from their attacking moves, and while Dublin tried their best to be patient, they were guilty of forcing the issue on occasion.
It led to careless wides — the Dubs shot 16 in total — and sloppy, simple turnovers.
The often disjointed forward play was compounded by some off-colour individual contributions. In particular Paul Flynn, usually the most reliable man on the park, was out of sorts though he did go some way towards making amends by creating Bernard Brogan’s goal.
Fortunately for Dublin, Westmeath had neither the nous nor the numbers to make them pay at the other end.
Have they really found the keys to unlock a massed defence? Their first two scores came via Philly McMahon and James McCarthy, two defenders given the licence to push on and support attacks without fear.
But it was 28 minutes before one of their forwards scored from play, Diarmuid Connolly pointing from 30+ yards.
The St Vincent’s star was man of the match, adding two magnificent scores off the outside of his right boot in the second half.
Worryingly for Dublin, they were scores reminiscent of the opening 20 minutes of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal.
For those few minutes, beating the blanket seemed so simple; all you had to do was ping points over the sea of defenders from the 40-yard line.
It’s practically impossible to do that with any real consistency though, and the aggregate shooting numbers from yesterday’s win — 15 scores, 16 wides — tend to back that up.
Asked if Westmeath’s stifling approach should give the Donegals of this world hope for later in the summer, Tom Cribbin was unequivocal.
“Without a doubt. Look, all the teams playing in Division 1 haven’t gone back and put this system together, including Armagh, they haven’t gone back for no specific reason.”
Gavin was the first to admit that there is plenty of room for improvement before the quarter-finals next month.
The All-Ireland favourites came through their first mini-test of the summer with few scars but it was performance that left as many questions as answers.
Originally published Monday at 18.00
