Portlaoise qualified for a third Leinster club football final in four seasons courtesy of a superb display against Longford champions Emmet Og on home turf on Sunday afternoon.

They are at the halfway point of their six-step plan for All-Ireland success, though the serious stuff is really just beginning for Denis Bastick and Dublin.

Sitting in the Hogan Stand two weeks ago watching John Heslin roll in the game-clinching goal, it was hard not to get drawn in by the pure joy and excitement the Westmeath squad and supporters were experiencing.

Blanket defence still frustrates brilliant Blues

Dublin 2-13 Westmeath 0-6: Gone in 60 seconds? It’s a tempting cliché to toss out in light of the two goals Dublin scored early in the second-half to turn this Leinster final encounter decisively in their favour.

Well that was good for the soul, and good for the championship.

Earlier this year, Ger Egan conceded he’d almost questioned himself as a footballer after Westmeath’s horror 2014 campaign yielded 12 defeats in 12 games.

"You probably think I’m mad but if I don’t achieve this I feel I will have underachieved."

Talk is cheap. It’s the actions that follow from teams that determine whether they really believe or whether they were trotting out a party line — and in some cases trying to convince themselves.

Mick O’Dowd entered the press room with the glazed expression of a soldier who has just witnessed terrible things at war.

Tom Cribbin admitted it was a little ‘miracle’ to emerge from the depths of despair grasping a Leinster final place, but the man who actually conjured it, Kieran Martin, could only shrug.

Westmeath 3-19 Meath 2-18: To put all the madness in its proper context, consider where Westmeath were exactly a year ago to the day.

Dublin 5-18 Kildare 0-14: With pins the size of swords, Dublin popped Westmeath’s party balloons less than an hour after they had been blown up yesterday.

Jim Gavin has played down Darragh Ó Sé’s remarks about Diarmuid Connolly after his forward turned in a man-of-the-match winning performance yesterday.

Now that the unthinkable has happened and Meath have lost to Westmeath, is it time to revisit Martin McHugh’s much ridiculed explanation for the decline of Gaelic football in the county?

Keeping in line with the most predictable provincial championships in recent times, tomorrow is shaping up to be a nice day for a white wedding. An arranged marriage, that is, at Dublin’s behest. Appropriately, apart from wearing blue they have something old, something new and something borrowed.

Those who partitioned Meath from Westmeath around 500 years ago didn’t do the Lake County any favours, not in Gaelic football terms at least.

A cool head from Kieran Martin produced the goal that sent Westmeath into Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against Meath, but it could be a huge moment in the managerial career of Tom Cribbin.

Ciarán Whelan didn’t quite do a Tomás Ó Sé on it, but he is seriously dubious about Kildare’s chances of beating Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster semi-final.

For a side with ambitions of taking down the number one team in Ireland, Graham Reilly accepted that struggling against the joint worst team in the country isn’t a great start for Meath.

Kildare 3-18 Laois 1-11: Not even their own supporters held much hope of Kildare beating Laois given their injuries and a horrible league campaign but manager Jason Ryan insists he and his coaching staff retained faith in their methods despite some of the vitriol being aimed in their direction.

An intriguing feature of the build-up to Meath’s first championship outing was the positivity of the players and their insistence that Dublin aren’t unbeatable.

It’s amazing what a good dressing down from a manager does.

“They always say here, the best place to find me is somewhere near the teapot.”

Sharpshooter Donie Kingston thinks Laois will need to register a 70-minute performance to get past Kildare in Saturday’s Leinster championship replay.

Mick O’Dowd has ruled former skipper Kevin Reilly out of Meath’s Leinster championship opener with Wicklow and admitted it’ll be a ‘bonus’ if the stricken defender does return at some point in the campaign.

Kildare 0-16 Laois 0-16: Tommy Moolick capped off a barnstorming performance off the bench with a wonderful injury-time point to rescue a draw for Kildare at the end of a thoroughly entertaining Leinster SFC clash with Laois at O’Connor Park.

As a loyal Kildare servant, Damien Hendy has become accustomed to criticism.

In one of the many great scenes in the film On The Waterfront, Charlie played by Rod Steiger, tells his younger brother, Terry (Marlon Brando) that he needs to be getting up a bit in the world — "You’re getting on. You’re pushing 30. You know, it’s time to think about getting some ambition," says Charlie.

Gaelic Players Association chief Dessie Farrell has offered a damning assessment of the football championship, claiming it’s ‘lagging way behind’ hurling because of the restrictive provincial structures.

As May turns to June we have seen the first few weeks of championship football with provincial championships throwing up a mixed bag of competitiveness and quality.

Jack Sheedy stood defiant afterwards.

Dublin 4-25 Longford 0-10: Not for Longford the parked bus.

In the stroll down Jones’s Road yesterday afternoon, the general consensus was that Dublin’s meeting with Longford in the Leinster football championship would be a rerun of Christians-Lions (Coliseum, vespers), with no guesses as to which side were going to be portraying the early converts, or the main course.

Two weeks ago, I highlighted the inconsistencies of referees’ judgements on shoulder challenges.

The arguments are as familiar to us now as Croke Park, Michael Lyster and an umpire’s white coat, but the ongoing domination of Dublin’s footballers at all levels in Leinster is such that those fires will continue to be stoked as the fine weather sets in. 

Former Longford manager Glenn Ryan has dismissed the suggestion that the county are on a damage limitation mission against Dublin tomorrow afternoon.

Before we consider what Dublin will face in their opening Leinster football championship tie, consider for a moment what they won’t.

Daniel St Ledger turned to referee Paddy Neilan late on Saturday evening and enquired how much was left on the watch. “12 minutes”, replied the Roscommon official. “It felt like an eternity,” the Carlow football captain admitted yesterday.

Fitness and conditioning guru Mike McGurn warns Carlow’s disappointing Leinster championship opener shows no amount of gym work will compensate for a shortage of skills.

As the music boomed out of the victorious Longford dressing room Jack Sheedy beamed, while across the tunnel Pat Flanagan struggled to get the words out through the anguish of defeat.

Laois 3-16 Carlow 0-8: It was as smooth a win as you could wish for but Laois manager Tomás Ó Flatharta learned little about his team as they steamrollered Carlow at Netwatch Cullen Park in this Leinster Championship opener on Saturday night.

Longford 0-16 Offaly 0-13: In a streaky game where both sides thrived on confidence, ultimately Offaly’s lack of self-belief cost them when they saw the finishing line.

Westmeath 3-14 Louth 0-16: Perhaps a little tough love does work after all.