Dublin v Westmeath

In anticipation of BE and Niamh posting that they can't wait for this match to be over what do ye all think of Dublin's chances?

Can we play as badly again - and win? WIll we get away with 17 wides? The last team to beat Dublin in Leinster was Westmeath and they gave us a right rattle last year.

I still think they are very short of scoring forwards and hope that we will show a marked improvement in front of goal and in terms of forward movement. Home win for me!

Dublin Laois leinster final and that should be a good game.
Westmeath I fancy will play a blanket type defense game against the Dubs and that may limit there attacking potential (glennon and dolan in all honestly would make nearly all county teams/panels at the very min)
dubs to win with a few points to spare.

Good post Jayo and I am inclined to agree with you. I think Dublin will up it a few gears this week and are unlikely to be as poor in fron of goal. I think Westmeath are down a couple from last year and Dessie seems to be struggling fitness wise. I expect Dub lin to prevail.

No Jayo I think it will be a bit tighter than you think. If we play as badly again we will get bet!!!

Lynam, Glennon and Wilson will roast the Dublin FB line if they get the right ball. The problem for Westmeath against Wicklow was that their half-forward line was playing so deep, they couldn't get a proper supply into the full-forward line. Maybe with Michael Ennis fully fit (and I'd throw on young Kilcoyne a half-forward as well), there will be a better chance of that happening.

Well it seems to be falling under the radar - as all Leinster games these days - quality issues I believe. No reason why Dublin can't take this one but Westmeath are never too handy - except in the QFs a few years back. If Dublin fire on all cylinders they will win handy but you can never tell which Dublin team will turn up.

Interesting to see if tactics will change for this one Jayo. Davoren is a big loss and there definitely needs to be a bit more movement up front. Westmeath also strong in midfield so will Whelo start? Dub defence will need to stick closely to Glennon - can be very good if given room. Dublin hammered them in the league and though it was the league it was recent enough for some Westmeath players to maybe remember it and let it affect them.

Dublin can play worse than they did against Meath and will still beat Westmeath.

Westmeath didn't look great against Wicklow and whether that was because of a lack of match practice remains to be seen. I reckon Dublin should just about have enough to beat Westmeath.

dubli will win this by at least 6 points, no question they are a far better team than westmeath who are really starting to pay for there complete lack of scoring threat and there negative tactics. i never want a team that play nothing but negative football to win..,..,....

Westmeath are a bit like Derry - they have decent forwards but the problem is getting the ball into them and good ball at that.

They'll have to come up with a new plan of getting that ball in otherwise this game will be a formality for the Dubs. Last year they wEre very defensive minded and i have seen little this year to suggest that they wilL offer anything different.

Dublin should win this one at a canter.

Dublin should be winning this fairly handy, I don't even think they'd have to up their game much in order to win but they inevitably will. Westmeath will be improved from the last day but in all reality I can't see them causing too much trouble.

P.S. JC if you're talking to Gilroy tell him to throw Whelan in at full-forward, I need some points for my Fantasy Football team and his arse warming the bench is no good to me!

Jayo - Reading over your posts there and you remind me of the lad in the Commitments pretending to do the interviews with Terry Wogan!!

I think it won't be all one way traffic, if Dublin play like they did the last day then it's the qualifiers for them. I don't think it will be though and they should win by about 5 points.

If westmeath are as bad as they were against Wicklow then Dublin will be able to afford 50 wides. Dublin to win by 7 or 8. Kildare to win Leinster

One game at a time - we will worry about Laois if and when we beat Westmeath .....

Jayo Cluxton wrote:One game at a time - we will worry about Laois if and when we beat Westmeath .....

And if they beat Kildare.

sportstime wrote:

Jayo Cluxton wrote:One game at a time - we will worry about Laois if and when we beat Westmeath .....

And if they beat Kildare.

See Samin's earlier post ........

I think Westmeath are great value to win this. They will be far better set up than Meath to beat Dublin. If Meath can get within two points of Dublin, then so can Westmeath.

I know Dublin hammered Westmeath in the League but O'Flaherta was only building the team for the Championship plus they were missing Dolan, Connaughtan, Shocko, Flanagan, O'Donoughue, and Wilson that day.

Fourteen points will be enough to win this game. Thats all Dublin got against Meath and they won't get half the amount of chances on Sunday they got that day. Boyle, Gavin and Keane is one of the best full-back lines in Ireland. I'm not sure what way their half-backs line out but again, they are usually fairly strong in that department. Midfield will be key for Westmeath, they struggled there against Wicklow. Having said that, I wouldn't say Dublin's midfield is any better than Wicklows. When Shocko came on, he made a huge difference, he won't last the full seventy though so Duffy and Flanagan will probably start and they will need to be on their game from go to woe. Plus Westmeath will contest the breaks far better than Meath, they'll crowd midfield, that won't suit Dublin's running game. Up front, they have four ace talismen; Lynam, Dolan, Wilson and Glennon. Dessie will play in the half-forwards and will do damage.

And Dublin bringing back Jayo looks a bit of a desperate move to me. I expect John Keane to pick up Alan Brogan and cancel that threat and with Davoren out, Dublin are severely weakened in front of goal.

The more I think about this, the more confident I am that Westmeath will rattle the dubs. It won't be spectacular but I reckon the team who can score say 14 or 15 points will win.

Jezzzz W/M are gettin some tanking!

I reckon only Tyrone and a rejuvenated Kerry can beat Dublin.

Can't see Kerry being rejuvenated, that leaves Tyrone.

I reckon the Dubs can beat anyone else, especially Cork

patrique wrote:I reckon only Tyrone and a rejuvenated Kerry can beat Dublin.

Can't see Kerry being rejuvenated, that leaves Tyrone.

I reckon the Dubs can beat anyone else, especially Cork

Dublin will bottle it Paddy once they come up against a serious team like Galway or Antrim. The dogs on the street know that Leinster footballs a charade of the real thing.

A sad day.

I feel sorry for Westmeath, they aren't really that bad. Although they aren't in Dublin's league. I couldn't single out any Westmeath player for criticism, they were all a joke bar Connellan, Glennon and Lynam. I've been singing Conor Lynam's praises for ages now, again he did well. Connellan surprised me too so one or two positives for Westmeath amongst the many negatives.

I feel sorry for Dublin, a pointless game for them. If I was a Dublin fan, thats the last type of game I'd have wanted. Already, I get a sense of Deja Vu.

I feel sorry for Leinster too. Really bad teams in this province bar Dublin (Kildare reaching the final only further proves how bad it is), most of us will have to put up with lots of abuse but for now it is justified. Although, I don't really get too offended when people criticise Leinster as a whole like some Ulster posters do.

I know what you mean about deja-vu Loyal. While this was a more impressive victory, it was just like last year's Leinster final and now Dublin will be hyped up to the last, something which I'm sure is the last thing Dublin want. Then there was the subsequent ambush by Tyrone which came out of the blue, will we see a similar situation this year after Dublin getting no test in Leinster? The only thing is that they've at least another game now, and I expect Kildare to put up a much, much better performance. Dublin need a good tough game against them, win or lose, and at least they'll have got some form of a challenge. Though it'll still not be enough if they meet a good battle hardened side from the qualifiers in the quarter final.

As far as Westmeath goes, well what can you say? I don't think they're that bad myself, but I do think they're a very poor team at the moment, who were overrated last year too. No excuses for performing like they have this whole year, they've been absolutely shocking. All this bull of them having the best 1-7 in the country has finally been shown up now, the marking was non-existant and the defending in general was laughable, the Dublin attackers brushing past them with ease. And when you base your game on a solid defence because of a lack of quality forwards, from the first few minutes it was apparent this was going to be a turkey shoot. I wouldn't hold much hope for them in the qualifiers, it seems this will be the end for a few players and the management. Not to take away from Dublin, they were very efficient and absolutely ruthless in attack,, with great quality to take off the bench. But on a day like that you have to ask what is wrong with the competition, Dublin are seriously hampered in their All-Ireland ambitions by steam-rolling through Leinster all these years and getting caught short when a big challenge comes up later on.

Westmeath are largely the same team as last year - but were absolutely shocking - abysmal, embarrassing. I felt sorry for their fans - what could you say to them - thank God they brought very few.

Dublin took some excellent scores but you couldn't read anything into that. I expect O'F has handed in the resignation already. Their much vaunted backline had conceded 10 points after about 10 minutes - nearly all from play. Weird. And two of the goals were pure comedy. Shocking stuff.

O'Flaherta is staying put for another while.

It would take a very bad manager to walk out on his team after that with two weeks to go to the qualifiers. He has given a lot to Westmeath I believe so he's hardly going to walk away from them before the season is over????????