A general view of Parnell Park. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U20 Football Championship
Group 1
Dublin 2-20 Westmeath 3-9
Offaly 1-15 Meath 2-11
Group 2
Wicklow 3-14 Longford 1-18
Group 3
Kildare 1-24 Wexford 1-12
Laois 2-10 Carlow 1-13
By Paul Keane
Under pressure Dublin dug deep at Parnell Park, mining out a terrific second-half performance to advance to the Dalata Hotel Group Leinster U-20 FC quarter-finals.
Trailing by two points at half-time, the 16-times provincial winners were in real danger of exiting the competition.
But an onslaught of second-half scoring led by Joe Quigley, who finished with 0-7 and who struck one of Dublin's three two-pointers on the evening, propelled them to victory.
Paddy Kelly registered both of Dublin's goals in the first-half though Westmeath goals from Ryan Kelly, a penalty conversion, and Kealan Connell in response left the Lake County 2-6 to 2-4 up at half-time.
Both sides needed the win to finish second in the table behind Meath, guaranteeing a quarter-final clash with Wicklow.
And Dublin showed real character to outscore Westmeath by 0-16 to 1-3 in the second-half on their home soil.
A seven-point burst of scoring between the 38th and 50th minutes did the trick for Dublin, moving them seven points clear at that stage.
Paul Reynolds Hand kicked two two-pointers for Dublin overall while Quigley, Rian Doherty and Luke O'Boyle also hit vital scores.
Westmeath enjoyed a mini-revival when Finn Duffy boomed over a two-pointer and Shane Corcoran claimed a third goal for the visitors but they'd left themselves too much to do.
Dublin will play Wicklow in the first quarter-final next Wednesday while holders Meath will take on Wexford in the other quarter-final.
Meath were already through after beating Dublin and Westmeath so shook up their team at home to Offaly and slipped to a one-point defeat.
Brian Carroll snatched a dramatic last gasp goal for Offaly to sneak their first victory of the campaign.
The Royals got the perfect start in Ashbourne with goals from Evan Kelly and Cillian Yore inside the first 120 seconds.
But they only led by a point at half-time, 2-4 to 0-9, and it was neck and neck throughout the second-half.
Meath thought they'd kicked decisively with four points in a row midway through the half and were two clear late on but Carroll pounced to settle it.
Wexford are Meath's quarter-final opposition despite the Model County's 12-point defeat to Kildare this evening.
Kildare were virtually assured of their third win in Group 3, and a semi-final place, by half-time when they led by 1-14 to 1-4.
The excellent Jay O'Brien helped himself to three two-pointers in the opening half while Eoin Cully hit the goal.
O'Brien continued his strong form with two more two-pointers in the second-half. Wexford, who netted through Tom Funge early on, scored second-half two-pointers from Will Foley and James Lawless but were always playing catch up.
It was all about two-pointers in the other Group 3 game as Laois' Ennae Byrne raised an orange flag in the 61st minute to secure a dramatic draw with Carlow, and third spot in the table.
Wicklow came from four points down against Longford thanks in part to two second-half goals to claim an impressive two-point win and second position in Group 2.
