Áth Cliath vs Iarmhí

[Hound]

Soft frees and svery harsh yellow cards were given at both ends. No way did Dublin get more.

The ref awarded one minute injury time at the end of both halves. Why, I don't know (no injuries, but plenty of stoppages), but two was never signalled.

Dublin were bad, but thankfully Westmeath were worse. They must be quare sick to have the dubs play that bad, and them play even worse.

I suppose you could say that both defences played well. The messy game Westmeath play suited Cullen, if nobody else, and he had his best game in a long while. Henry was my Dublin man of the match, but in general the defence and midfield did reasonable and the forwards were poor.

Wexford must feel positive.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Yes, Wexford will be optimistic about this one I'd say. Westmeath had Dublin for the taking, but couldn't deliver, Dessie had an off day with his frees in the second half, for one.

[Hound]

Dessie was shocking, even apart from the frees, got plenty of ball and did nothing with it. Thoguh almost every forward on the pitch was shocking. Glennon was the best I thought, but to me it looked like his first thought when in possession was "I want to draw a free" rather than "I want to get/make a score".

Love the 2pm throw-ins. Get the game in, a few pints with the lads, then home by 7pm to see the kids before bed and get a few posts in so I don't have to waste an hour in work on Monday morning 

[INDIANA]

dessie got 5 points, including the 2 best points from play in the whole game, granted he missed a couple of frees but he roasted a succession of dublin defenders. Must have been a lot of pints.

[blast05]

Observations from a neutral:
- Glennon was absolutely superb for the first 15-20 minutes - 6 balls in a row with something coming off each one (why did it take Dublin so long to move McConnell. They moved him after which he was doing grand and then took him off at half time).
- Henry was excellent on Glennon from thereafter but John Keane was even better on Brogan. Not often you watch a match and your 2 main candidates for MotM were corner backs.
- Westmeaths half forward line was too poor - John Smyth was ineffective while Doran Harte, although playing his role very well, was obviously not a half forward.
- Did Mark Vaughan actually contribute anything during the second half.
- Has Jason Sherlock ever played a game with such little time on the ball ?
- With Martin Flanagan back on board as perhaps an orthodox centre forward and given the way he can take a game by the scruff of the neck (which Westmeath so badly missed today), then Westmeath can re-group and be a very difficult team to beat, albeit i have serious doubts about the real mental strength of Dennis Glennon and Des Dolan after todays game.
- Is this not the perfect campaign so far from Dublin ? they know they have bucketfuls of improving to do but yet are still where they want to be after 2 games. Remember, they are unlikely to come up against a better defensive unit for the rest of the year compared to what they came up against today.

[Hardy]

Hound, my comments were made at half time. Nearly all Dubln's close-in frees were soft and some more than that, in the first half. It evened out in the second half with the swampmen getting more soft ones.

It was made clear today hat if you mark Alan Brogan out of the game you have a very good chance of beating Dublin.

[joemamas]

Dont mean to start something negative, however, I could not but notice the trash talking close to end of the game when westmeath got a free in from about 21 meters out. Collie Moran the main perpertrator this go round, got right in the face of the westmeath freetaker,and he in my mind the worst Dublin player on the time by a longshot, a player incidently that management seem to be bending over backwards to facilitate. Keep your ffnn mouth shut and get on with the game. Jesus as much as I would like to see Dublin win something , that sort of shit talk bothers the hell out of me. Could you ever in your wildest drunkeness envision Tomas Or Dara O Shea doing something like that.

Maybe, that is one of the reasons they are successful and Collie Moran and Co. are not. Just as a sidebar what do some of these mouthpieces work at, do they have to deal with the general public, or are they locked in an office all day.

Apologies for going on too long. Rant over.

[Hound]

Yes, I hate that too. Though I'm pretty sure you picked out the wrong Dublin half back as the perpetrator. For what its worth, you could not meet a nicer guy off the field than Collie Moran.

The Kerry lads are well able for the thrash talk, including the O'Se's. But the Dubs lads who do it are too thick to do it subtlely.

[INDIANA]

he has picked out the wrong player, but observation wouldn't be joe's strong point. amazing you watch a match and thats all he has to say............

[Iarmhí Abú]

I'm still gutted after this.  It's even worse this morning.  This was a game that was there for the taking and as a result the opportunity to have a punt at another Delaney slips away.  Fair play to the Dubs however, they stuck at it and raised their game at the end to edge home. 

John Keane was immense. The whole backline was superb and gave the Dublin forwards plenty of trouble.  Connolly impressed me from the Dublin perspective and looks to be a great prospect. 

I think that the Dubs will benefit greatly from this encounter.  They learned a lot about defensive frailties and this match was worth ten games like the Louth one.

Was pleased for Denis as this was his best showing for some time and was needed.  Dessie was excellent before some late wides blotted his performance.  Flan was a massive loss and didn't get to the pace of the game when he arrived.

It's a strange thing to say but the qualifiers don't have the same appeal this time.  Maybe I'll feel different when we head to Tipp but we've been down that route before and while we have benefitted more than most from the back door, it's the Leinster title that is the holy grail for our lads.

[Davitt Man]

The referee yesterday was very poor, he is from Armagh and pulled for everything, nearly ruined the game, dublin got a few very soft frees in the 1st half and likewise WestMeath in the 2nd, very poor performnace from him.

The westmeath No.4 Keane was ver impressive, stuck with Alan B all day and was very tenacious

[heffo]

I'm still gutted after this.  It's even worse this morning.  This was a game that was there for the taking and as a result the opportunity to have a punt at another Delaney slips away.  Fair play to the Dubs however, they stuck at it and raised their game at the end to edge home. 

John Keane was immense. The whole backline was superb and gave the Dublin forwards plenty of trouble.  Connolly impressed me from the Dublin perspective and looks to be a great prospect. 

I think that the Dubs will benefit greatly from this encounter.  They learned a lot about defensive frailties and this match was worth ten games like the Louth one.

Was pleased for Denis as this was his best showing for some time and was needed.  Dessie was excellent before some late wides blotted his performance.  Flan was a massive loss and didn't get to the pace of the game when he arrived.

It's a strange thing to say but the qualifiers don't have the same appeal this time.  Maybe I'll feel different when we head to Tipp but we've been down that route before and while we have benefitted more than most from the back door, it's the Leinster title that is the holy grail for our lads.

Dublin can count themselves very lucky and Westmeath should rightly feel like they let it slip away.

The game progressed as I thought it would, very tight and low scoring, I didn't plan for such a poor Dublin performance though.

Westmeath backs were excellent for the most part, especially Keane.

Fennell looked out on his feet after about twenty minutes and I'd imagine Whelan will start for him the next day. Full back still a problem for Dublin.

Why did Glennon pop the last free over the bar? I would've thought Flanagan or someone would've had a pop at goal given the time...

[INDIANA]

rather than go through a blow by blow account. Dublin will in all likelihood probably win the Leinster Championship and not win the big one like previous seasons. we just have too many issues this season unfortunately. If Dublin had John Keane and Gavin , we'd have a great a chance.
Armagh were pretty unimpressive yesterday as well, its Kerry's to lose, this could the softest all-ireland they'll pick up in a long time. It was an incredibly subdued atmosphere at the game and Westmeath players will still be breaking out in cold sweats in 10 years time, wondering how they let it slip.

[thejuice]

This Westmeath team are very strong especially in the backs and if they keep their heads up, can go a long way in the qualifiers,

[dublinfella]

. If Dublin had John Keane and Gavin , we'd have a great a chance.

If Dublin had them Pillar would either drop them or play them out of position.

It seems that they have spent far too much time doing fitness and conditioning and not enough time training with the ball. I don't mind playing badly and winnig, but there were too many basic and fundamental errors in the Dublin play. Also a number of players are there on reputation, not form. Guys like Collie Moran and Jayo.

Very subdued atmosphere as well.