We still don’t do sport round here…but some of us go to the matches

Okay, was at the Dublin Westmeath match yesterday [see here]. And have to say it was a disappointment. Sure, the result was good for Dublin, but as the crowds left Croke Park there was an unmistakeable sense of the underwhelming.

The match started late, the stadium was frozen as a little bit of Autumn came to Dublin, and perhaps it was doubly cold for hard-pressed Westmeath fans who had little to clap about.

The first half saw some fine football, and a real sense that Dublin was in full control, but the second saw an almost shambolic melt-down enlivened only by occasional bursts of spirit and life. Neither side appeared to actually grasp where the goal was with a bizarre succession of wides. And although few would have considered Westmeath had any chance of returning in the last twenty minutes or so there was a strong impression that a different team could do so and that Dublin would be unable to counter them.

The half-hearted attempts at Mexican waves just before the second half and the usual procession of fans from both sides leaving the grounds long before the end of the match only added to a sense that all was not as it should be. And that’s a personal gripe of mine. What is with paying money for a game and then getting out as soon as humanly possible? Why not save money and time and just have someone text the result to the pub?

Uneasy anticipation would best describe where this journey leads next and much depends on the replay of the Mayo Laois game where both teams appeared more impressive than advance publicity and previous form had indicated.