Con O Callaghan
Dublin, Kildare and Westmeath all recorded wins in the EirdGrid Leinster U21 Championship this evening, while the meeting of Laois and Wicklow was postponed.
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**EirGrid Leinster U21 Football Quarter-Final: Dublin 1-12 Meath 0-9 **
Dublin and Meath played out a fiercely competitive Leinster U21 championship clash at Parnell Park tonight in which senior star Con O’Callaghan proved to be the difference between the two sides, posting an individual tally of 1-7, of which 1-5 came from play.
The final 1-12 to 0-9 winning margin in favour of the home side would suggest that Dessie Farrell’s side cruised through the contest but this couldn’t be further from the truth as O’Callaghan’s goal was all that separated the sides with just five minutes to play, at a time when Meath were playing with an extra man due to the sending off of Martin Cahilan in the 43rd minute.
Rúairí Ó Coileáin got Meath off the mark and while the Royals fell into an early three point deficit and lost key player Joey Wallace to injury, they rallied to draw level before O’Callaghan rocked them back with his major.
The contest grew somewhat fractious after the break as the three point lead was maintained throughout the half and it was only in the closing stages that Dublin finally made their win safe, while Killian Deely and Ronan Jones were both sent off in injury time on second bookable offences.
Scorers for Dublin: C O’Callaghan 1-7 (0-2f), A Byrne 0-2, D Spillane, B Howard, M Deegan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Meath: D Rowe 0-5 (0-4f), R Ó’Coileáin 0-2, C Halligan & J McEntee 0-1 each.
**Dublin: **L Molloy, E Smith, S McMahon, D Bolger; M Cahilan, B Howard, C O’Shea; A Foley, K Deeley; T Lahiff, C O’Callaghan, G O’Reilly; M Deegan, A Byrne, D Spillane. **Subs: **D Monaghan for Bolger (ht), O Lynch for Deegan (41), K Doherty for Foley (43), A McGowan for O’Reilly (48), C Sallier for Spillane (52)
**Meath: **J Lynch; M Flood, D O’Neill, J Reilly; G McGowan, T McGovern, N Kane; D Ryan, R Jones: K Ryan, J McEntee, S Byrne; J Wallace, R Ó’Coileáin, D Rowe. **Subs: **C Halligan for Wallace (12), K Traynor for McGowan (39), B Duggan for Byrne (45), N O’Reilly for Ryan (48), J McCarney for O’Neill (55), S Meade for Kane (58).
**EirGrid Leinster U21 Football Quarter-Final: Kildare 2-14 Offaly 1-6 **
If Dublin are to be dethroned in Leinster this year then it looks as if 2013 Leinster minor champions Kildare will be the side to do it after the Lilywhites eased past neighbours Offaly with a very polished performance at Hawkfield.
The Faithful County played with the aid of a strong breeze in the first half and early points from Shane Tierney and Jack Walsh got them off to a solid start; however they struggled to compete with the physical power of Luke Flynn and Paschal Connell at midfield and were soon starved of possession in the key scoring areas.
A black card shown to towering full-forward Aaron McDonnell midway through the first half didn’t help their cause and while Kildare struggled to find their range at the other end of the field, posting five first half wides from some very good positions, they still prevented Offaly from pulling away before drawing level through Chris Healy in the 20th minute.
The diminutive full-forward sent a dagger blow into Offaly hearts just before half-time when he collected a magnificent foot pass from Neil Flynn and slipped the ball underneath Jamie Colgan in the Offaly goal and while Adam Mahon carved out a wonderful chance to respond in kind for the visitors, his powerful shot fizzed a couple of inches over the Kildare crossbar.
A 1-4 to 0-4 deficit after playing with a strong wind left Offaly with a lot of work to do and their task grew even tougher when Cein McMonagle scythed through their backline and found the net just 20 seconds after his second half introduction.
Shane Tierney and Gio Russo combined well to respond with an Offaly major midway through the half but the final quarter belonged to the Lilywhites as their greater power and pace all over the field started to tell. Eight points in succession were scored by the home side, with Conor Hartley, Ben McCormack and Ryan Houlihan among the players who used the breeze to great effect, finding the target from over forty metres away from goal.
**Kildare scorers: **C Healy 1-2, N Flynn 0-5 (0-4f, 0-1 ’45), C McMonagle 1-0, L Flynn, B McCormack & C Hartley 0-2 each, R Houlihan 0-1.
Offaly scorers: G Russo 1-0, S Tierney (0-1f) & R McNamee 0-2 each, J Walsh & A Mahon 0-1 each.
Kildare: D Campbell; D Maguire, E Bateman, P Mescal; R Houlihan, S Ryan, B Byrne; L Flynn, P Connell; C Hartley, B Kelly, M Sherry; B McCormack, C Healy, N Flynn. **Subs: ** C Kavanagh for Sherry (34 – bc), C McMonagle for Kelly (38), R Feely for L Flynn (53), C Scanlon for Healy (56), M Hyland for Ryan (58), J Costello for Houlihan (60+2)
**Offaly: **J Colgan; D Dempsey, J Lalor, C Doyle; A Mahon, D Byrne, D O’Toole; O Cusack, R McEvoy; J Evans, R McNamee, C Farrell; J Walsh, A McDonnell, S Tierney. **Subs: **G Russo for McDonnell (14 – bc), J Lowry for Farrell (27 – blood), G Hutchison for O’Toole (49), PJ Daly for McEvoy (56), Lowry for Tierney (59), C Horan for Lalor (59), A Heffernan for Farrell (60+2).
EirGrid Leinster U21 Football Quarter-Final: Westmeath 1-5 Wexford 0-7
A late free from Daire Conway ensured that Westmeath will stand in Kildare’s way in a fortnight as the Lake County came away from a tense encounter played in abysmal weather conditions at Enniscorthy with a vital one point win.
Wexford’s victory over Longford in the previous round was enough to see the home side installed as favourites for this one and while Westmeath got off to a fantastic start with a goal and a point from Paddy Fagan in the early stages, his goal punched to the net after a fine delivery from Sam Duncan, it quickly became clear that the Mullingar Shamrocks player was the only real threat to the Wexford goal.
The conditions were described as 'Arctic' and when three points from Donal Shanley pulled the gap back to just two points at half time, 1-2 to 0-3, Wexford looked like clear favourites with a strong wind set to favour them after the restart.
Westmeath showed great grit and determination, however, and despite conceding the first two points of the second half, they never fell behind and both Robert Hickey and Jack Quinn kept their noses in front. Wexford again fought back to level the game through a long-range Jamie Carty haymaker; however a failure to clear their lines handed Conway the chance to snatch victory for the midlanders right at the death.
**Scorers for Westmeath: **P Fagan 1-1; D Giles (f), D Conway, J Quinn, R Hickey 0-1 each.
Scorers for Wexford: D Shanley (4f) 0-5; D Barden, J Carty 0-1 each.
**Wexford: **B Turner; D Barden, J Rossiter, R Vallejo; S Doyle, N Rossiter, S Donohoe; N Hughes, T Byrne; E Nolan, I Carty, B Power; D Shanley, E Roche, S Ryan. Subs: J Carty for Roche; T Bowler for Byrne; J Stafford for Power.
Westmeath: K Fagan; R Wallace, I Ilunga, L Sayeh; G Murray, A McCormack, D Conway; A McGivney, S Duncan; S Corcoran, R Cunningham, T Watts; D Giles, N Mitchell, P Fagan. Subs: R O’Toole for McGivney; J Quinn for Mitchell; R Hickey for Corcoran.
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