Dublin effortlessly swatted off Meath to retain their provincial crown with a 1-17 to 0-4 victory at Croke Park.

As well as retaining the Delaney Cup, the All-Ireland champions are also through to the Super 8s, while Meath – who hit a succession of poor wides today - could still join them there if they win their Round Four Qualifier in a fortnight.

The winners will be concerned by an injury sustained by key man James McCarthy but they no doubt have the strength in depth to cope with any such setbacks, Dean Rock's cameo performance summing up their awesome reserves of quality. Con O’Callaghan got their goal on 68 minutes, the game over as a meaningful contest long before then.

Jim Gavin’s men led by four points at the end of a terrible first half, 0-5 to 0-1, Paul Mannion directing a penalty onto the woodwork beneath Hill 16 nine minutes from the break.

Tempers flare between Dublin and Meath players off the ball. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne.

Both teams made changes to their starting XVs, Philly McMahon replacing Michael Darragh MacAuley for the holders while the Royals threw in Shane McEntee and Graham Reilly in place of Gavin McCoy and Adam Flanagan.

With the rain drizzling down in Dublin 3, culminating in a decidedly slippery surface, the tone was set for the losers when Ben Brennan’s early free came back off an upright. It wasn’t until the twelfth minute that Ciaran Kilkenny opened the scoring, the turbo-heeled Jack McCaffrey accelerating through to add a second a minute later.

Cormac Costello connected brilliantly with a ‘45’ to stretch the gap and it was five points to no score after 24 minutes thanks to further points from Mannion and Brian Howard. Mannion’s 26th-minute penalty came back off the inside of the right post following a Conor McGill shove on O’Callaghan and the Meath full back came to his side’s rescue again when fisting away a McCarthy centre with a goal looking almost certain.

McCarthy hobbled off with a knee injury, replaced by MacAuley, and – with 47,027 looking on - midfielder Bryan Menton drilled over the visitors’ sole first-half score in the 33rd minute.

McCaffrey fisted the first score of the second half and Costello swept over two frees either side of one from Michael Newman - Meath's only second-half scorer. McMahon came forward to supply the winners’ ninth point and Newman replied with a left-footed rasper at the end of a classy solo run.

Mannion stepped inside to arc over an exquisite point and Brian Fenton got his customary score early in the fourth quarter. Meath’s twelfth wide was followed instantly by Dublin’s twelfth point, Mannion the scorer, sub Rock (free) extending the gap to ten on the hour and following up with a quickfire brace – 0-15 to 0-3.

Substitute Paddy Andrews fired over the seventh successive Dublin point and, taking a delightful pass from Rock, O’Callaghan planted the ball brilliantly low to the left corner of the Meath net on 68 minutes as the gap soared out to 16 points. Rock and Newman – the only Meath forward to score - traded late points. Given the one-sided nature of proceedings, it was no surprise to see supporters in both green and blue leaving HQ early. Perhaps they were equally disappointed with the bang they got for their buck.

Dublin - S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, P McMahon (0-1), J McCaffrey (0-2); D Byrne, C O'Sullivan, J Small; J McCarthy, B Fenton (0-1); N Scully, C Kilkenny (0-1), B Howard (0-1); C Costello (0-3, 2f, 1'45), P Mannion (0-3), C O'Callaghan (1-0). Subs: M D Macauley for J McCarthy, D Rock (0-4, 1f) for B Howard, K McManamon for C Costello, P Small for C Kilkenny, P Andrews (0-1) for P Small, R O'Carroll for J McCaffrey.

Meath - A Colgan; S Gallagher, S Lavin, C McGill; J McEntee, D Keogan, R Ryan; B Menton (0-1), S McEntee; C O'Sullivan, B McMahon, G Reilly; B Brennan, M Newman (0-3, 1f), J Conlon. Subs: S Tobin for B Brennan, E Devine for G Reilly, T O'Reilly for J Conlon, B Dardis for S McEntee, S Curran for S Gallagher, T McGovern for B McMahon.

Referee - S Hurson.

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