O Se gets first look at task ahead

Football challenge / Dublin 0-15 Westmeath 0-9: It is difficult to whip up a genuine interest in an intercounty challenge match in November, but St Jude's GAA Club had plenty of prying eyes in attendance for the pinnacle of their 25th anniversary celebrations yesterday.

The main focus was on Páidí Ó Sé, who got his first look at the Westmeath footballers he inherited from Luke Dempsey.

The initial prognosis isn't exactly heart-warming.

With St Brigid's still in the Leinster championship and five Dublin regulars on Railway Cup duty, Tommy Lyons blooded several hopefuls from this year's successful Under-21 and Minor sides.

It was a respectable enough final scoreline, but that was mainly because Dublin emptied the bench in the second half. They led 0-8 to 0-1 after the opening 35 minutes, and despite the flow of young talent which donned the sky-blue jersey it was the old heads who caused Westmeath the most difficulties.

Darren Homan was a pillar in midfield, while Jason Sherlock was in fine form, kicking three neat scores early on and was denied a goal only by a great reaction save from Aidan Lennon.

So, on the initial investigation, it appears that a tough road lies ahead for Ó Sé, who was typically non-committal after the first viewing of his young charges.

"It was a start," he said. "It was my first day out with them. There were a lot of pluses and a lot of negatives, but sure it's early days yet, it's only the month of November. Today was a warm-up game, it was a good game to start off with. It was a competitive game, it took us a little bit to get into it, but when we did get into it, in the second-half, there were an awful lot of positives. A lot of stuff to be ironed out, and we will be doing that, hopefully."

Ken Larkin - who has been at the centre of a storm regarding the alleged assault from Down's James McCartan in a challenge match last May, in which his jaw was broken - made a welcome return to competitive action, but the other positives were hard to see. Yet, as Ó Sé reminded all, it is still very early days.

The hoped-for Westmeath revolution continues next Saturday against Roscommon, while Dublin look forward to their challenge against the reality TV show team, the Underdogs, which is broadcast live on December 14th.

DUBLIN: P Copeland; B Byrne, M Fitzpatrick, P Griffin; B Lyons, C Goggins, N Cooper; D Homan, D Magee (0-1); M Lyons (0-1), D O'Mahony (0-3), B Cullen (0-1); J Sherlock (0-4), K Golden (0-1), T Quinn (0-3, 1 45). Subs: B Phelan for B Cullen (half-time), B McMenamin (0-1) for M Lyons (44 mins), J Leahy for T Quinn (49 mins), I Ward for B Lyons, A Downes for B Byrne (both 52 mins), H McInerney for D O'Mahony, S Rea for P Copeland (both 53 mins).

WESTMEATH: A Lennon; K Larkin, D Mitchell, F Murray; D Kilmartin, D O'Donoghue, D Heavin (0-1); R O'Connell, D O'Shaughnessy; F Wilson (0-3, 1f), P Conway, M Ennis; E Fleming, J Conroy (0-2), J P Casey. Subs: J Keane for K Larkin (23 mins), J Galvin for J Keane (26 mins), J Fallon (0-1, f) for P Conway, D Gavin for J P Casey (both 33 mins), A Mangan (0-1) for E Fleming, G Connaughton for A Lennon, K Henson for F Murray, J McAteer for D Kilmartin (half-time), S Mitchell (0-1) for D Mitchell (46 mins).

Referee: S Farrell (Dublin).