Dublin claimed a fourth Leinster Football Championship under 21 title in six seasons at O'Moore Park last night. The Dubs forward line didn't see much of the ball at times but they made the most of it when they had it to book their place in an All-Ireland semi-final against the Ulster champions - Cavan or Donegal.
The Dubs led 0-7 to 0-3 at half time but the Royals kicked eight wides and also had a penalty saved from Lorcan Molloy. However, Dessie Farrell's men could have had a goal of their own just before the break when Conor McHugh smashed an effort off the crossbar. Dublin began the second half strongly and mopped up the breaking ball to move 0-11 to 0-4 ahead by the 36th minute with man of the match Shane Carthy getting through some amount of work. They might have added to this but McHugh's goal effort was saved by Meath keeper Andy Colgan. Two minutes later Dubs netminder Molloy was again the saviour when he parried Conor Sheridan's goal effort. The Dubs always had some breathing room with points from Gavin Burke and Carthy extending the lead to 0-13 to 0-6 while the Dublin defence made sure Meath never got in for a goal.
Scorers for Dublin: C Costello 0-5 (3fs); S Carthy, C McHugh 0-3 (1f) each; G Burke 0-2; E Lowndes, N Scully 0-1 each
Scorers for Meath: B O’Brien 0-4; S Mattimoe 0-3 (2fs); S McEntee, J Wallace, B McMahon (f) 0-1 each
DUBLIN: L Molloy, R McDaid, D Byrne, R McGowan, J Small, P O’Higgins, J McCaffrey, S Carthy, S Cunningham, N Scully, E Lowndes, C Costello, P Mannion, M Deegan, C McHugh. Subs: S Boland for Deegan (24), G Burke for Cunningham (ht), E Ó Conghaile for Costello (47), S Cunningham for Higgins (54).
MEATH: A Colgan, D McQuillan, C McGill, S Carty, B Power, S Melia, S McEntee, C Sheridan, A Flanagan, N Shortall, B O’Brien, P Harnan, J Wallace, B McMahon, S Mattimoe. Subs: C Finn for McQuillan (40), A Burke for Carty (46), O Fitzpatrick for Power (52), B Dardis for McEntee (55)
REFEREE: F Barry (Kildare)
