Westmeath needed extra time to see off Wicklow in a tame Leinster senior football championship quarter-final at Tullamore: 0-16 to 1-10. Dublin are next up for the winners but, on the evidence of what was witnessed in O'Connor Park today, the Dubs won't exactly be quaking in their boots at the prospect of putting their provincial crown on the line on June 28. The teams shared 13 wides and just eight scores during the course of a poor-quality first half. Wicklow edged it and led by 1-3 to 0-4 at the interval. Dean Odlum got the goal in the 35th minute and it could have been worse for Tomas O Flatharta's side if Tony Hannon had converted a first-quarter penalty. The first 15 minutes belonged to the Lakesmen, who led by three points to no score, with Wicklow ruing that early missed penalty. Debutant Conor Lynam opened the scoring with a second-minute point and Fergal Wilson followed up with a converted free in the sixth. The Garden County looked bamboozled in the opening exchanges by the Midlanders' blanket defence totally on top, but they got a break when Paul Earls was grounded going through on goal. Referee Joe McQuillan had no hesitation awarding a penalty, but Gary Connaughton made an excellent save to deny Tony Hannon. Francis Boyle received a yellow card for his part in the penalty incident, but Mick O'Dwyer will have been infuriated by that passage of play as Earls should really have put the ball in the net. A penalty in gaelic football is scant reward for an open goal, especially against a custodian of Connaughton's calibre. Another rookie, Keith Scally, fisted the Maroons' third point before a foul on full forward Sean Furlong on 17 minutes presented Hannon (who'd earlier had two wides) with the ideal opportunity to open the Wicklow account which he did. Captain Leighton Glynn followed up with a second point for Micko's men and the underdogs were just a point adrift on 20 minutes, 0-3 to 0-2. It was double scores when corner back Boyle got forward to link with wing back Donal O'Donoghue and the No.2 kicked a fine left-footed point from an acute angle close to goal. The atmosphere was flat and both teams were guilty of some distinctly underwhelming play in the first half. As well as the penalty miss, Wicklow recorded six wides in the opening half-hour The normally-dependable Hannon was having an off-day from placed balls, but he bagged his second minor in the 31st minute when Furlong was toppled in front of the posts. Dara O hAnnaidh followed up with another wide at the end of a laborious Wicklow build-up and his direct opponent John Smyth immediately supplied Westmeath's sixth wide at the other end. Odlum netted in the last minute of first-half normal time: an aimless high kick from Tommy Walsh was mishandled by Connaughton and the ball broke to the Wicklow No.13 who had the routine task of tapping first time to the empty net. It was Earls who had placed the Lake 'keeper under pressure and he collided with the post for his troubles but it's a sacrifice any intercounty footballer will make for a three-pointer! A dismal first half ended with the Garden County two points to the good, 1-3 to 0-4. Odlum stretched the Wicklow lead with an excellent point seconds after the restart, but Glynn missed another presentable opportunity moments later. Then came five successive Westmeath scores Dennis Glennon, who was quiet before the break, bore down on the Wicklow goal after Hannon was caught in possession. The Westmeath No.14 was pushed over by Conor Hyland (who saw yellow) and he made no mistake from the resultant free. Lynam followed up with a point at the end of two cheeky dummies to close the gap to one point with half an hour to play, 1-4 to 0-6. With Wicklow's defence all at sea, Glennon ignored Smyth's run through the middle to pop over the equalising point on 43 minutes. With Wicklow down to 14 men as full back Damian Power lay prostrate on the ground receiving treatment on his ankle, the referee allowed play to continue and Westmeath worked the ball forward from a Connaughton kick-out for the impressive Lynam to take his third score of the afternoon - a fourth successive score for the pre-match favourites, who now led by 0-8 to 1-4. More slack Wicklow defending resulted in a David Duffy point at the end of the third quarter and O'Donoghue picked up a ridiculous yellow card after Furlong pirouetted and threw himself to the canvass. The Wicklow No.14 dusted himself down and got up to tap over the free and reduce the gap to one point. Wilson made it 0-10 to 1-5 when he tapped over another soft free at the other end. In the 57th minute, Walsh bought a Wicklow free, which Furlong played square to the central Hannon, who clipped between the posts with the Lakesmen's defence snoozing. Earls kicked wide at the end of a patient Wicklow approach and there was still just a point between the teams with an hour played. Both teams missed good chances with the match in the melting pot and Westmeath talisman Dessie Dolan entered the fray with seven minutes remaining, followed quickly by David O'Shaughnessy. With six minutes to go, midfielder James Stafford blasted over the levelling point after taking a pass from Glynn: 0-10 to 1-7. Hannon chipped a free over the black spot on 68 minutes (another very, very soft free - this time awarded to Glynn) to put Micko's men back in front. Michael Ennis kicked Westmeath's eighth wide in the last minute of normal time. Earlier, the Westmeath substitute was nearly through for a match-winning goal only to see his close-range shot smothered by Mervyn Travers in the Wicklow goal. Five minutes of added time were announced, with Westmeath's Leinster championship dream hanging by a thread. Fergal Wilson kicked the equalising point in the third added minute and Hannon drove a 45 wide two minutes later. In the fifth added minute, Wicklow wing back Patrick McWalter got his marching orders for a second yellow card. The final whistle sounded with the teams level: Wicklow 1-8 to 0-11. Extra time would be needed - but Wicklow had every reason to be feeling hard done by due to the referee's decision not to stop play while Power was on the ground clearly injured. Glennon pointed Westmeath ahead with an exquisite left-footed strike in the first minute of extra time and Dolan followed up with a lovely free a minute later. Jacko Dalton tipped over a nice Wicklow point off the outside of his right boot, after cutting inside O'Donoghue. Thus, Westmeath led by a point, 0-13 to 1-9, at the end of the first added minute. Wicklow had wind advantage for the last ten minutes but it was St Loman's teenager Lynam who took an impressive point within 15 minutes of the restart to put Westmeath two ahead. This was followed by disappointing wides from Lynam and Wilson as Wicklow struggled to get out of their own half. Wilson tapped over a simple free to put three between them and sub Darren Hayden replied for the losers. Wilson took the last score of the match from another straightforward free and Westmeath won out by three after extra time - 0-16 to 1-10. Westmeath - G Connaughton; F Boyle (0-1), K Gavin, J Keane; W Murtagh, D Heavin, D O'Donoghue; M Flanagan, D Duffy (0-1); K Scally (0-1), J Smyth, D Harte; F Wilson (0-5, 4f), D Glennon (0-3, 1f), C Lynam (0-4). Subs - M Ennis for Scally (39), D Healy for Heavin (60), D Dolan (0-1, 1f) for Harte (63), D O'Shaughnessy for Flanagan (64), J Connellan for Murtagh (68), Harte for O'Donoghue (80), Flanagan for Duffy (82), C Reilly for Smyth (89). Wicklow - M Travers; D Power, C Hyland, A Byrne; P McWalter, D Ó hAinnaidh, P Dalton; J Stafford (0-1), T Walsh; T Hannon (0-4, 3f), L Glynn (0-1), R Nolan; D Odlam (1-1), S Furlong (0-1, 1f), P Earls. Subs - B McGrath for Dalton (42), D Hayden (0-1) for Power (47), S Kelly for Byrne (52), C Jones for Nolan (65), JP Dalton (0-1) for Jones (75), P Cunningham for Earls (81) Ref - Joe McQuillan (Cavan) Tweet

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