Dublin brush aside Louth

Dublin 1-22 Louth 0-12

This Leinster SFC quarter-final clash turned into a turkey shoot in the second half at Croke Park as Dublin ran riot against a plucky Louth side.

The defending champions were decidedly error prone in the opening half and Louth were only 0-07 to 0-05 behind at the break, with Derek Crilly and Aaron Hoey scoring 0-02 apiece.

But a 44th-minute Alan Brogan goal steadied the Dubs, who eased through to a June 29 semi-final against Westmeath with debutant Paddy Andrews amongst a plethora of scorers.

In his first championship match as team captain, Brogan finished as Dublin's top scorer (1-07) and his 70-minute effort saw him claim the man-of-the-match award.

But the gong could just have easily gone to the ageless Jason Sherlock who, in his 55th championship appearance, brilliantly pulled the strings of the Dublin attack.

The 32-year-old Sherlock reads the game superbly and his intelligent use of the ball helped Paul Caffrey's side get back on track after a forgettable first half.

Midfielders Shane Ryan and Eamon Fennell, with the latter making his championship bow, dovetailed well and were excellent on Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs.

While it was mission accomplished for Caffrey and his charges, the first half was a big let down and had Louth converted more of their early chances, the Dubs could have been in trouble at the interval.

Gunning for the county's first SFC win over Dublin since the 1957 final, Louth put in some impressive spurts during the opening 35 minutes.

Colm Judge looked the part as he gave the Louth attack some spark and skipper Aaron Hoey notched two excellent points.

Ronan Carroll also found plenty of space in the Dublin half-back line and one of his runs almost led to an own goal from Stephen O'Shaughnessy.

There was a minute's silence beforehand following the death last week fo former Louth footballer Damien Reid, the father of Adrian Reid who lined out at right half-forward today.

In front of an official attendance of 56,496, the Dubs got their Leinster title defence off to a sluggish start with four wides in the opening seven minutes.

The sides were level on four occasions in the opening 19 minutes, as Caffrey's side failed to put over their scoring chances and their aerial dominance was made to count for little.

They opened with a Tomas Quinn free but debutant Derek Crilly replied soon after with a placed ball of his own and Louth then went in front when Reid set up a left-footed Hoey point.

Dublin showed what they are capable of in the 11th-minute when a move begun in defence by Shane Ryan finished with Brogan bisecting the posts, after a through ball from Sherlock.

Despite conceding a second pointed free from Quinn, Louth soon edged into a 0-04 to 0-03 lead and they may have snuck through for a goal.

Before Judge and Hoey had hoisted over points, a marauding run from midfielder Carroll caused problems for the Dubs' defence. The Louth number 9 found his way to the edge of the square but when he lost possession, a deflection off Stephen O'Shaughnessy's face saw the ball bounce off the crossbar.

Ross McConnell stepped in to rescue the situation near his goal-line and together the Dubs and the Hill 16 masses breathed a sigh of relief.

Conal Keaney squared up the game with a free and both sides then went through a barren spell with Reid, Mark Stanfield and Paddy Keenan notching wides for Louth and David Henry, Quinn and Sherlock was also wayward for the Dubs.

Indeed, all six of Dublin's starting forwards had hit a wide by the 25th-minute.

Their cause was not helped by some excellent goalkeeping from Louth stopper Stuart Reynolds as he denied both Paddy Andrews and Brogan from point-blank range.

However, Quinn did end a 12-minute scoreless period with a point teed up by Brogan and further efforts from Sherlock and Quinn, preceeding an injury-time Crilly score, created the two-point gap at the break.

Louth were still well in touch and they increased the pressure on Dublin with a fine point on the restart from Shane Lennon.

Just when it was needed, the Metropolitans succeeded in rattling off some much-needed points through Sherlock, Quinn, Collie Moran and Brogan.

Ray Finnegan and Carroll, who scored after a superb catch by his midfield colleague Paddy Keenan, kept Louth in the hunt but Brogan found the net soon after.

Playing in towards their beloved Hill, the Dubs began to put Louth to the sword.

Although there were legitimate calls for a square ball, Brogan's goal stood after a quick hand-passing interchange between Sherlock and the skipper.

That major shunted Dublin into a 1-11 to 0-08 lead and they never looked back.

A pointed free from Hoey was soon dwarfed by a flurry of points from the Leinster four-in-a-row hopefuls.

Andrews landed his first championship point, Quinn took his personal tally to 0-06 and Brogan fired over three superb points to go along with a Moran score.

Keaney pushed Dublin's total to 1-19 and with the bite gone out of the match, Louth efforts from substitute Brian White, Keenan and Crilly meant very little.

Memories of Dublin's 1-19 to 0-09 win over the Wee county in 2003 came back as a demoralised Louth watched substitute Mark Vaughan and Brogan fire over the game's final points.

Job done and some 'explemplary scoring' in the second half as Caffrey put it, but both he and his players know they cannot afford another first half display like today's in three weeks' time.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; D Henry, R McConnell, S O'Shaughnessy; P Casey, B Cullen, B Cahill; E Fennell, S Ryan; C Moran (0-02), J Sherlock (0-02), P Andrews (0-01); A Brogan (capt) (1-07), C Keaney (0-03, 0-03f), T Quinn (0-06, 0-03f).

Subs used: M Vaughan (0-01) for Andrews (52 mins), B McManamon for Sherlock (60), K Nolan for Cullen (66), P McMahon for Cahill (67), D Magee for Fennell (68).

LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Finnegan, M Fanning, J Neary; J O'Brien, C McGuinness, R Finnegan (0-01); P Keenan (0-01), R Carroll (0-01); A Reid, M Stanfield, D Crilly (0-02, 0-01f); C Judge (0-01), A Hoey (capt) (0-03, 0-01f), S Lennon (0-01).

Subs used: A Page for Neary (41 mins), J Murray (0-01) for Crilly (43), B White (0-01) for Reid (52), B Donnelly for Stanfield (61).

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)