Aaron Byrne on the double as U21 footballers progress

DUBLIN 2-14 WESTMEATH 0-6

Dublin's under-21 footballers safely accounted for Westmeath in Wednesday night's EirGrid Leinster U21FC quarter-final at St Loman's, Mullingar.

The Dubs will face Longford in the provincial semi-final on Wednesday, March 22 following their victory over Kildare.

Aaron Byrne was Dublin's scorer-in-chief finishing with a tally of 2-3, all from play, as his speed and balance in tricky underfoot conditions matched his clinical edge in the scoring zone.

Dublin's work-rate and tackling was excellent throughout but they only really cut loose over the closing passage of this contest.

Byrne's first goal came in the 12th minute when he accelerated through the centre of the Westmeath defence, his initial shot was saved by impressive keeper Kevin Fagan but the Na Fianna man collected the rebound to fire to the net.

That put Dessie Farrell's men 1-2 to 0-2 clear and Byrne quickly stretched that with a point.

Seán Bugler went close to raising a second green flag but his thunderbolt crashed off the crossbar as Dublin's attack began to click into gear.

Points from Con O'Callaghan (free), Byrne and Glenn O'Reilly made it 1-6 to 0-2 before Westmeath rallied before the break with two points, one free, from Darren Giles.

Both sides had chances on the restart but didn't take them before an O'Callaghan free and Byrne point, following good work by Colm Basquel, pushed Dublin six clear with the lively Eoin Murchan making it seven with a fine point.

Going down the home straight Dublin dominated with Byrne grabbing his second goal in the 55th minute and sub Chris Sallier scoring a point as well as being fouled for a converted free as Dublin advanced to the provincial semi-final.

The Dubs hit 1-8 without reply between the 43rd minute and added time before Westmeath sub Ciarán Shanley concluded the night's scoring.

SCORERS - Dublin: A Byrne 2-3, C O’Callaghan 0-5 (0-4f), C Basquel 0-2, C Sallier, G O’Reilly, C Murphy, E Murchan 0-1 each. Westmeath: D Giles 0-2 (0-1f), D Conway, R O’Toole, N Mitchell (0-1f), C Shanley 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: E Comerford; D Byrne, S McMahon, S Clayton; C Murphy, C O’Shea, E Murchan; B Howard, A Foley; T Fox, S Bugler, G O’Reilly; A Byrne, C O’Callaghan, S Smith. Subs: C Basquel for Bugler (ht), C Sallier for Smith (39), D Gavin for O’Reilly (48), A Elliott for Fox (57), D McIlgorm for O’Callaghan (61).

WESTMEATH: K Fagan; P Murray, R Wallace, B Sayeh; D Conway, M Kelly, M Darling; N Mitchell, L O’Reilly; E O’Brien, R O'Toole, J Kearney; S Duncan, S Clavin, D Giles. Subs: I McGovern for Conway (ht), C Shanley for O’Brien (ht), G Murray for Kearney (39), C Dillon for Kelly (39), T Adamson for O’Toole (52), R Curley for Clavin (52).

REF: D Moore (Laois).