Just another day out at Croker for Dublin’s nerveless tyros

Such was the ease with which Dublin walked past Westmeath we had to invent possible obstacles, such as whether young defenders Johnny Cooper, Jack McCaffrey might have been at least a little anxious about stepping into the bigger arena.

“No, in fairness to the lads they were just purely focused on their game, so I had no worries about it,” goalkeeper and captain Stephen Cluxton assured us.

Manager Jim Gavin wasn’t been drawn into the great debate either of whether Westmeath manager Pat Flanagan was right to question the validity of the provincial championship in its current guise.

“I’m a traditionalist and the provincial championship is one of the traditional competitions. I certainly put great stock on Dublin going out to try and win another provincial title. There are big challenges along the way and the next game against Kildare, that will be a tougher challenge so no I don’t see the disbanding of any provincial titles in the future.

“Two years ago Westmeath were very close to breaking through with the under-21s. I think they have done remarkably well in Division Two and now they are a Division One side so, I mean, they are getting there.”

Gavin played up the Westmeath performance as much as he could, dismissing the idea that Dublin should have had them dead and buried after 20 minutes. “In the first half they were very structured and we found it hard to break them down, so I certainly didn’t see that score line anyway.

“You don’t close championship games out in the first 20 minutes, that’s for sure. Games ebb and flow and there was no surprise Westmeath came back. They have talented forwards and Dessie Dolan was a massive loss to them.”

So, the only concern for Gavin is the four-week break before the semi-final date with Kildare – and maybe a bit of work on Dublin’s conversion rate.