U21 footballers march to Leinster glory

DUBLIN 1-16 LOUTH 0-8

A Ciaran Kilkenny-inspired Dublin under-21 side captured the Cadbury Leinster U21FC in emphatic fashion in Pairc Tailteann, Navan on Wednesday.

If the margin of victory was clearcut it does not tell the entire story as some excellent goalkeeping from Louth netminder Joe Flanagan coupled with some brave last-ditch defending and wayward shooting by the Dubs stopped Jim Gavin’s men from triumphing with even more to spare.

One forward whose radar did not let him down was Kilkenny as his haul of 1-7 was central to Dublin’s victory and annexing their tenth provincial title at this grade. The Dubs progress to face the Munster champions on Saturday, April 21.

The game was less than two minutes old when Kilkenny palmed a enormous wind-assisted delivery from Mark Schutte to the net to give his side the dream start. Less than a minute later Philly Ryan had the ball in the Louth net after slick interplay in the forward division but he was adjudged to have been in the small square before the ball and the score was disallowed.

Despite Dublin’s dominance of possession they failed to turn it into scores and it was not until the close of the first half that they gave themselves any breathing space approaching the break.

Two points from Kilkenny and one each for Jack McCaffrey and Paul Hudson was reward for Dublin’s endeavours as the likes of Emmet O Conghaile, Sean George, and Ciaran Reddin got through a lot of work.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with the Dublin defence dealing comfortably with whatever Louth could muster. The Wee County’s chances though were few and far between – the final wides tally of Dublin 14, Louth 3, is an indication of what way the traffic flowed all night long.

SCORERS – Dublin: C Kilkenny 1-7 (0-1f), P Hudson, M Schutte, G Seaver 0-2 each, J McCaffrey, G Sweeney, H Dawson 0-1 each. Louth: B Rogan 0-4 (0-4f), R Moore, C Bellew, B Hamilton, W Woods 0-1 each.
DUBLIN – JB Carthy; S George, K O’Brien, M Concarr; L Fletcher, J Kelly, J McCaffrey; C Reddin, E Ó Conghaile; M Schutte, G Sweeney, D Byrne; P Hudson, P Ryan, C Kilkenny. Subs: H Dawson for Ryan (ht), G Seaver for Byrne (ht), J Small for Concarr (46), P Maguire for Hudson (50), P Keogh for O Conghaile (56).
LOUTH – J Flanagan; C Murray, D Campbell, T Hand; P Reilly, M McKeown, A Williams; E O’Connor, S O’Hanlon; C Bellew, R Moore, P Kirwin; B Rogan, W Woods, B Hamilton. Subs: B Berrill for Bellew (38), E Duffy for Kirwan (43), S McMahon for Reilly (50), S Donnelly for Hamilton (56).
REF – F Kelly (Longford).
ATTENDANCE: 1,200 (Estimate).