Another tale of the expected for Meath as Dublin cruise to victory

For long periods of this Leinster SFC quarter-final Meath performed quite admirably, but when Dublin turned the screw they slipped into cruise control and coasted to the expected 3-19 to 0-12 victory at Croke Park today.

On the face of it it appears to be another right Royal hammering for Meath at the hands of the All-Ireland champions, but there are plenty of positives for Meath to take.

Down by just five points at the break, and with Dublin's goal benefiting from a generous refereeing call that allowed Sean Bugler travel close to 13 steps before despatching the ball beyond Billy Hogan, Meath sensed an opportunity to lay down a marker.

In that opening half Meath played a lot of very attractive, front-foot football. They didn't take a backward step and caused the unsteady Dubs plenty of problems.

For all of their inventive, constructive football Meath were quite wasteful with their possession as at times they tried to force a pass or pick out a player that just wasn't in the right position.

Too often promising, patient moves broke down because of a rush of blood to the head or a rash decision and Dublin took full advantage of this lapses in concentration and punished Meath by scoring 1-5 on turnover ball in the opening half alone.

Despite being overwhelming underdogs, Meath provided plenty of bite in a contest that suffered from the poor atmosphere created by the attendance of just over 21,000 - many of whom had been in for the earlier camogie finals and who had left before the main course was served.

Dublin were just more clinical. Their vast experience and ability to create space and pick off their scores with considerable ease proved the chasm that exists between the teams at the moment, but for Meath, despite another drubbing on the scoreboard, there is still the sense of something brewing.

There were times, long before Dublin did eventually hit the super-booster button in the final 10 or 12 minutes, when they threatened to pull out of sight, but on each of those occasions Meath responded well and stayed in the game.

When Bugler benefited from the lenient refereeing to bury the goal and then the excellent Paul Mannion added two frees Meath could have collapsed, but instead they kicked the next two points from Eoghan Frayne and Jordan Morris to get back within three points, 0-5 to 1-5.

Again Dublin kicked on and scored three points in two minutes, but Meath closed out the half with the final score to narrow the deficit to just five at the break.

Even in the second-half, Meath hung on in. They had to settle for a point from a decent goal chance and with less than 20 minutes remaining they were still 'only' six points adrift.

Even when Meath were only eight points behind in the 60th minute they were still putting it up to Dublin. However, Dessie Farrell's men aren't red-hot favourites to defend their All-Ireland title for no reason and in the closing 14 minutes they outscored Meath by 2-3 to 0-1 - a true mark of champions as Meath's challenge wilted.

It had looked so promising for Meath early on. Darragh Campion came in for the injured Shane Walsh, who broke a bone in his foot last Wednesday, and opened the scoring after 36 seconds. Three minutes later Ronan Jones won and converted a mark to double Meath's lead.

Dublin worked the ball to Mannion to open their account in the sixth minute, but they had to be patient as Meath defended resolutely and they didn't draw level until Ciaran Kilkenny pointed in the 14th minute.

Mannion landed his first free to edge Dublin ahead for the first time, but again Meath responded positively with Mathew Costello converting a free after Harry O'Higgins had been fouled to make it 0-3 each at the end of a lively opening quarter.

However Dublin always looked threatening as Meath coughed up possession on the counter-attack.

As often happened in the opening period Meath were turned over on the attack in the 20 minute and Niall Scully carried the ball unchallenged before Bugler took up possession and almost walked the ball to the goals.

Mannion added two quickfire points (one free) to make it 1-5 to 0-3 and Dublin threatened to pull away.

Frayne and Morris replied for Meath, but those quickfire points from Colm Basquel (two) and O'Callaghan (mark) edged Dublin six clear before Frayne landed a 32nd minute free to close the gap to 0-6 to 1-8 at the interval.

Scully from a mark and John Small stretched Dublin's lead to seven points within two minutes of the restart, but Morris replied for Meath.

Kilkenny fisted over his second score, but Meath continued to play forward football and created a goal chance when Daithi McGowan picked out half-time sub Jack O'Connor. The Curraha man's shot was poor, and the scrambled clearance came too quickly at Sean Coffey for the Ballinabrackey man to make a decent connection. Dublin failed to clear their lines and Meath were rewarded with a Morris point from that attack to make it 0-8 to 1-11.

Adam O'Neill did brilliantly to get back on the line and tip over Mannion's goalbound shot and that inspired Meath to probably their best move which resulted in a score for Conlon.

O'Callaghan and the excellent Ciaran Caulfield traded points as Dublin maintained their six-point cushion, 1-13 to 0-10, but then the 14-in-a-row chasing Leinster champions kicked for home with points from Kilkenny, Mannion (free) and John Small making it 1-16 to 0-10.

Frayne stopped the rot with a 59th minute free, but the fight was gone out of Meath and Dublin emphatically coasted to victory with Mannion scoring an easy goal after the Meath defenders got suck to the ball and Paddy Small laid it on a plate for the Kilmacud Crokes man.

Cormac Costello and even Cian Murphy got on the scoresheet for Dublin before Billy Hogan closed Meath's account in the 68th minute with a converted '45'.

Dublin still had time to add a third goal. After Paddy Small scored their closing point they added that third goal three minutes to injury-time when O'Callaghan took advantage of a poor kickout and finished to the net to complete the rout.

SCORERS

Dublin - Paul Mannion 1-6 three frees; Con O'Callaghan 1-2 one mark; Sean Bugler 1-0; Ciaran Kilkenny 0-3; Colm Basquel 0-2; John Small 0-2; Cormac Costello 0-1; Cian Murphy 0-1; Paddy Small 0-1; Niall Scully 0-1 mark.

Meath - Eoghan Frayne 0-3 two frees; Jordan Morris 0-3; Mathew Costello 0-1 frees; Darragh Campion 0-1; Ronan Jones 0-1 mark; James Conlon 0-1; Ciaran Caulfield 0-1; Billy Hogan 0-1 '45'.

TEAMS

Dublin - Stephen Cluxton; Sean MacMahon, Cian Murphy, Eoin Murchan; Brian Howard, John Small, Sean Bugler; Tom Lahiff, Ciaran Kilkenny; Ross McGarry, Michael Fitzsimons, Niall Scully; Paul Mannion, Con O'Callaghan, Colm Basquel. Subs - James McCarthy for Basquel 49m, Paddy Small for Howard 51m, Killian McGinnis for Mannion, Cormac Costello for McGarry both 61m, Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne for J Small 65m.

Meath - Billy Hogan; Donal Keogan, Adam O'Neill, Harry O'Higgins; Ciaran Caulfield, Ross Ryan, Sean Coffey; Ronan Jones, Daithi McGowan; Darragh Campion, Eoghan Frayne, Cathal Hickey; Jordan Morris, Mathew Costello, James Conlon. Subs - Jack O'Connor for Campion half-time, Cian McBride for McGowan 45m, Keith Curtis for Ryan, Ruairi Kinsella for Morris both 58m, Aaron Lynch for Conlon 61m.

Referee - Thomas Murphy (Galway).