Niall Ó Ceallacháin’s reign as manager began on a positive note as Dublin accounted for Antrim by double scores at Croke Park.
Just six days after leading Na Fianna to All-Ireland club glory, Ó Ceallacháin was back on the sideline and while he could be justifiably encouraged by the result and the individual displays of certain newcomers, tougher challenges lie ahead as Antrim struggled throughout.
Despite an encouraging start, the visitors, with Davy Fitzgerald in charge for his first competitive outing, chased shadows for the large part with ten points from James McNaughton never likely to prove sufficient given the paucity of scoring contributions elsewhere.
Early scores from Nigel Elliott and James McNaughton allowed the visitors to settle initially, but Dublin began to take a degree of control courtesy of points from Cian O’Sullivan, John Hetherton and captain Chris Crummey.
Dublin put daylight between the teams in the ninth minute when Crummey’s diagonal pass released debutant Iain Ó hEithir, who showed great composure in picking out the inrushing Conal Ó Riain for an emphatic finish into the roof of Ryan Elliott’s net.
The accuracy of McNaughton ensured that Antrim remained in touch as the first quarter evolved, but O’Sullivan proved equally adept at the opposite end as he fired over a trio of frees in quick succession to preserve Dublin’s five-point buffer.
Dara Purcell also made an impression with a brace of points from play and with Ó Riain adding to his personal tally, a late 65 by O’Sullivan saw the Dubs open an eight-point advantage by half time.
Scores from O’Sullivan, Hetherton and Ó Riain in the early stages of the second-half saw Dublin enhance their dominance with Niall McKenna’s point in the 41st minute an isolated moment of encouragement for the Glensmen.
Despite a further two points from O’Sullivan, Dublin’s accuracy deserted them for a period as they spurned a number of presentable chances to extend their lead.
Those misses never looked likely to cost them however, given the relative poverty of Antrim’s challenge, with home substitute Cillian Hayes making an instant impact when introduced as he popped over a smart score in the 59th minute.
The contest petered out in the closing minutes, but Ó Riain from Kilmacud Crokes caught the eye throughout as his late point took his personal tally to 1-3 by the final whistle.
Scorers – Dublin: C O’Sullivan 0-13 (10f, 1 65); C Ó Riain 1-3; Dara Purcell 0-3; C Crummey, J Hetherton 0-2 each; C Burke, C Hayes 0-1 each. Antrim: J McNaughton 0-10 (8f); N McKenna 0-2; N Elliott, N O’Connor 0-1 each.
Dublin: E Gibbons 7; J Bellew 7, D Lucey 8, I Ó hEithir 8; D Gray 6, C Crummey 7, P Dunleavy 7; B Hayes 5, C Burke 6; C Ó Riain 8, F Whitely 6, D Power 5; C O’Sullivan 8, J Hetherton 7, Dara Purcell 7. Subs: D Ó Dúlaing 6 for Whitely (43), S Gallagher 6 for Gray (47), C Hayes 7 for B Hayes (57), David Purcell 6 for Hetherton (60), J Lambert 6 for Dunleavy (63).
Antrim: R Elliott 7; C Boyd 6, D McCloskey 6, P Burke 7; C Bohill 6, R McGarry 6, E Campbell 7; S Walsh 6, N Elliott 7; P Boyle 6, N O’Connor 7, N McKenna 6; E O’Neill 5, J McNaughton 7, K Molloy 6. Subs: G Walsh 6 for McGarry (half-time), E McFerran 6 for Boyd (half-time), S Elliott 6 for O’Connor (47), J Maskey 5 for Bohill (54), J McLaughlin 5 for O’Neill (67).
Referee: James Owens (Wexford).