The hosts fell 0-4 to 0-0 behind early on as Furman flicked a goal chance over the crossbar and Dean Rock, son of former Westmeath manager Barney Rock, landed three placed balls.

Byrne's 12th-minute goal strengthened Ballymun's grip on the game and by the time Seanie Daly scored the Westmeath champions' first point, the 'Mun already had 1-5 on the board.

Paul Curran's charges took a 1-7 to 0-4 buffer into the break and they were out of sight after Furman's goal after just two minutes of the second half.

It was a very disappointing display from Mullingar considering their heroics in defeating last year's Leinster winners Garrycastle in the recent county final.

Shamrocks had to wait until the 46th minute for their first point from play, and Ballymun had a relatively easy passage through to the last-four where they face Sarsfields in two weeks' time.

The Kildare champions were good value for their 1-12 to 2-6 quarter-final win over Louth club St. Patrick's in Newbridge.

The Sash flew into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead inside the opening ten minutes. They also carried a goal-scoring threat with Sean Connor needing to be on his toes to tip over a powerful Alan Smith shot.

The Louth champions had substitute Kevin Toner sent-off as half-time approached, but they showed great resolve as full-back Dessie Finnegan drilled home a much-needed goal and Paddy Keenan followed up with a free.

Sarsfields resumed in the ascendancy though as free-taker Eamonn Carroll and Ray Cahill landed two points each and Robbie Confrey claimed the goal that killed off the game as a contest.

Colin McCann's three-pointer in injury-time reduced the margin to five points but there was no way back for 14-man St. Pat's.

A dominant Portlaoise side showed little mercy to St. Patrick's of Wicklow in their quarter-final tie in Aughrim.

The Laois champions cantered to a 3-15 to 0-4 triumph with Conor Boyle, Tommy Fitzgerald and Eoin Whelan responsible for the goals.

St. Pat's faced into a strong wind in the first half and were 2-6 to 0-0 in arrears at the break. Austin O'Malley finally got them off the mark in the second half but the damage had already been done.

Meanwhile, Longford's Emmet Og will be Portlaoise's semi-final opponents after they got the better of Navan O'Mahonys on home soil this afternoon.

The Killoe club were in tenacious form as they tripped up the fancied Meath champions, beating them 2-13 to 0-8 in an entertaining tussle in Longford.

Denis McGoldrick finished off the first half's scoring as Tommy McCormack's men built a 0-7 to 0-4 half-time lead.

Navan then conceded two goals in quick succession at the start of the second half as their challenge waned. Two minutes in, Sean McCormack's centre was fisted into the net by Simon Kiernan.

Killoe's second goal followed soon after as All-Star nominee Michael Quinn took advantage of a misjudged pass from Navan’s Gary O'Brien to make it 2-7 to 0-4.

O'Mahonys never recovered from those setbacks despite some neatly-taken points from Jake Regan and Stephen Bray who finished with 0-3 each.

Sean McCormack (0-4) and goal scorer Quinn (1-1) led the scoring for the victors, with half forwards Denis and Ronan McGoldrick hitting 0-2 and 0-3 respectively.