A general view of Netwatch Cullen Park. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U-20 football championship, Round 1
Group 1
Meath 1-22 Dublin 1-18
Westmeath 1-17 Offaly 0-14
Group 2
Louth 4-16 Longford 1-15
Group 3
Kildare 3-18 Laois 0-6
Wexford 2-10 Carlow 0-14
By Paul Keane
Powerful full-forward Jamie Murphy was the star of the show as Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U-20 football championship title holders Meath got their 2025 campaign off to a storming start.
Cathal O Bric's Royal County were billed as underdogs despite hosting the game in Ashbourne and trailed a strong Dublin side by two points with just eight minutes remaining.
But Murphy's 52nd minute goal from a penalty was a huge turning point and put Meath into a lead they would stretch to four points by full-time.
The excellent Rian Stafford, nephew of Meath legend Brian, won the penalty after being hauled down by Dublin defender Darragh Murphy who was black carded.
Murphy, Stafford, Ben Corkery and substitute Zach Thornton added points before Meath won a stoppage time free in their own half which was brought forward and converted just outside the arc by Murphy.
It was Meath's fifth two-pointer of the evening with Murphy accounting for three of those while powerful midfielder Michael McIvor and John Harkin struck the others.
Harkin's two-pointer was the last score of the first-half and left Meath 0-11 to 1-7 up at half-time. Joe Quigley struck Dublin's goal and was their best forward on the evening, finishing with 1-7.
He clipped five of his points from placed balls including two frees that were awarded for Meath breaches of the 4/3 rule.
Clyde Burke came on for Dublin at half-time and registered a two-pointer in his very first play, putting Dublin into a lead that they would hold onto for much of the third quarter.
Luke O'Boyle's second point of the evening for 2020 provincial champions Dublin left them two points up, 1-15 to 0-16, and it remained that way until the Murphy goal.
It was all Meath in the closing minutes and they outscored Dublin by 1-6 to 0-3 to claim what is just their first win over the Sky Blues at this grade since 2011.
Westmeath defeated Offaly by six points in the other Group 1 game and they will play Meath on April 2 in Round 2.
Louth, beaten by Meath in last year's Leinster U-20 final, powered to a big Group 2 win over Longford.
First-half goals from Adam Gillespie and Shane Lennon left Louth sitting pretty with a 2-6 to 0-7 half-time lead at their training centre in Darver.
Conor MacCriosta, Darragh Dorian and Tony McDonnell were also on the mark with scores for Louth though they were reduced to 14 players following a red card late in the half.
Gillespie added another goal after the restart before Pearse Grimes Murphy took over with a series of points and the Wee County wrapped it up with a fourth goal in stoppage time.
Kildare, Leinster minor finalists in 2022, have a highly regarded U-20 group this season and blitzed Laois by 21 points in Portlaoise.
Visiting Kildare were 1-13 to 0-1 up at half-time and added two more goals after the restart.
Cathal White's expertly taken first goal for Kildare, in the 21st minute, left the young Lilies 1-8 to no score up at that stage.
Ben Loakman nailed an eye-catching two-pointer and county senior Ryan Sinkey joined in the scoring after the restart.
Jay O'Brien hit Kildare's second goal from a penalty in the 47th minute and Fintan Quinn added the third goal with two minutes of normal time remaining.
Wexford overcame hosts Carlow narrowly in the other Group 3 game, thanks in part to a two-goal blast from Rory Gilbert.
