Dublin had a massive 27 points to spare over a poor Westmeath side in the Leinster SFC semi final at Croke Park this afternoon. The score finished 4-26 to 0-11 and in all honestly the game was over as a contest after 15 minutes as Dublin raced out of the blocks to stun their opponents. Dublin's first half showing was impressive to say the least as they raced into an eight point lead after ten minutes, during which time Westmeath failed to score as Bernard Brogan finished the half with 1-5. The second half was of similar fare as Westmeath just had no answer to Dublin's movement throughout the field over the course of the 70 minutes. Westmeath went into this match as massive underdogs, which was slightly unfair as they have ran Dublin close in recent championship meetings and indeed were the last side to defeat the Dubs in Leinster. Realistically, there was more pressure on the Dublin given the fact that they were such strong favourites and following on from their performance against Meath, they needed to produce a good display to keep their fans appeased. Dublin were out of the blocks in a flash and had the first score of the match after just ten second has Bernard Brogan found room to fire over. The first minute hadn't passed when it was 0-2 to 0-0 after Conal Keaney also found space to lot over with relative ease. A third point soon followed as Brogan once again kicked a fine point and the signs looked ominous for the Midlanders after just two minutes. The Lakemen's first attempt was from the boot of Martin Flanagan, but his effort went wide when the midfielder should have done better. A quick kick out saw Dublin break and this finished with a point from the returning Jason Sherlock. The Dubs were well on top in midfield winning kick outs from both sides. A foul on Alan Brogan earned a free and this was duly converted by his brother Bernard to leave the score line 0-5 to 0-0 after just six minutes. Westmeath were struggling to find any sort of composure and the gap was six points when Sherlock was left unmarked to comfortably score from close range. Dublin were certainly a different team from the one that played in the first round as they dominated all over. Alan Brogan then kicked two points to leave eight between the sides and amazingly the game looked beyond Westmeath after just ten minutes. However, Westmeath finally found the range when John Connellan made room to score a fine point. At this stage the atmosphere in Croke Park had already began to die and Keaney kicked a free over the bar after he was fouled himself. Westmeath were not helping their chances as they wasted a number of chances, which were in fact bad misses, something that they could not afford to do against a Dublin side that were certainly on form. A simple free for Bernard Brogan put the Dubs into double scores and it was hard to find anything good about the Westmeath performance at this stage. Denis Glennon, who was unusually quiet, kicked a free after Fergal Wilson was fouled for their second score after 20 minutes of play. Conor Lynam, who had scored four points in the last round against Wicklow got on the score sheet when was left in acres of space, but Keaney responded with a huge kick from 40 metres. A Paul Flynn point soon followed as the gap was now nine points, 0-12 to 0-03 after 25 minutes. The Dubs were tearing Westmeath apart and even when Sherlock fell he still managed to lay off the ball to Alan Brogan who pulled on the ball first time and fired it over the bar. Then the game was over as a contest when John Smith gave a bad pass which was intercepted and Bernard Brogan raced through to fire past Gary Connaughton. Surprisingly, it took Westmeath manager Tomas Flatharta 30 minutes to make a change as Damien Healy and David O'Shaughnessy were brought on for Martin Flanagan and Donal O'Donoghue, while in the mean time Bernard Brogan scored from another free. Lynam hit his second point from play to show that he is a star for the future in what was the only bright spot for Westmeath during the first half as the Dubs went in leading 1-14 to 0-4. Sherlock rewound the clock a few years as he tormented the Westmeath defence and the full forward earned the first free of the second half, which Brogan kicked over. Big brother Alan then scored his fourth of the match as one began to wonder where was this all going to end. Glennon scored from another free as Westmeath looked to get some respectability on the score line. For the first time in the match, the Lakers kicked two consecutive points when Connellan kicked off his left for Westmeath's sixth point of the match. Back came Dublin as Diarmuid Connolly became the sixth sky blue forward to score. Connaughton made a great save from Bernard Brogan to keep his pride intact as a lot of the Westmeath players gave up the fight in the first half. Bernard Brogan was really on top form and his seventh point of the afternoon was quite exquisite as it curled in around the post much to the delight of the Hill 16 faithful. A further free was converted by Glennon, but Dublin's response was swift as the score read 1-19 to 0-7 after just 47 minutes of play. It just got worse and worse for the maroons as Sherlock scored another point as Westmeath introduced Dessie Dolan for Fergal Wilson. Keaney then earned a penalty after he was adjudged to have been fouled, although it seemed harshly given, but Connaughton got down well to his left and saved. Almost immediately, Bernard Brogan scored his second goal when Connaughton misjudged the flight of the ball and it fell to the Dublin forward, who fired into an empty net. It was cringing stuff for the Westmeath following and one of the poorest displays by the lake County in many years. Connellan and Brogan then exchanged points as the latter had now registered 2-8 for the afternoon, which still had 16 minutes left to play as Dublin lead by 2-21 to 0-8. Sherlock points either side of a Darren Magee goal left a massive 24 points between the sides as this became one of the biggest routs in Croke Park for many years. The impressive Lynam hit his third from play as he can hold his head up high with a decent performance, but a fourth goal by substitute Mossie Quinn just made matters worse. As the majority of the 54,000 plus had left the grounds, the atmosphere had subsided dramatically when O'Shaughnessy and Quinn exchanged points, before Sherlock kicked his sixth from play in an excellent performance. Ross McConnell got his name on the score sheet to make it 4-26 to 0-11 and this was the last action of the match in what was one of the most one sided contests ever witnessed at GAA headquarters. Dublin - S Cluxton; D Henry, D Bastick, R O'Carroll; P Griffin, G Brennan, B Cahill (0-1); R McConnell (0-1), D Magee (1-0); P Flynn (0-1), A Brogan (0-4), D Connolly (0-1); C Keaney (0-3, 1f), B Brogan (2-8, 5f), J Sherlock (0-6). Subs - P Burke for A Brogan (51), T Quinn (1-1) for Keaney (52), B Cullen for Brennan (60), C Whelan for Magee (62), S Ryan for B Brogan (63). Westmeath - G Connaughton; F Boyle, K Gavin, J Keane; M Ennis, D Heavin, D O'Donoghue; M Flanagan, D Duffy; F Wilson, J Smyth, D Harte; J Connellan (0-4), D Glennon (0-3, 3f) C Lynam (0-4). Subs - D Healy for Flanagan (32), D O'Shaugnessy for O'Donoghue (32), D Dolan for Wilson (50), W Murtagh for Ennis (60). Ref - Jimmy White (Donegal) Tweet

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