Costello hits hat-trick as minors retain Leinster crown

DUBLIN 3-17 MEATH 1-11

Dublin’s minor footballers protected their Leinster MFC crown with an impressive victory over Meath in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
Cormac Costello was the scorer-in-chief for the Dubs finishing with an incredible 3-4 as Dessie Farrell’s men waltzed to a ten-point victory and set up an All-Ireland MFC quarter-final against beaten Ulster finalists, Monaghan.
Dublin led 1-10 to 0-5 at the interval but it should have been more as some over-elaboration and a lack of a rutless clinical edge prevented them from opening a large half-time lead.
Costello grabbed the only goal of the opening half in the 18th minute when his point effort off his left foot dipped under Jack Hannigan’s crossbar.
With the likes of Gavin Burke powering forward at every opportunity the Dubs really set the tempo for the opening 30 minutes and were more than full value for their eight-point interval advantage.
Two further goals from Costello in the 34th and 39th minutes sealed the deal for the Dubs but they were guilty of idling while in front as the Royals raised a strong gallop aroud the three-quarter marker when kicking 1-3 without reply to reduce the margin to 3-11 to 1-9.
However, Dublin responded with a Conor McHugh free to break Meath’s momentum and Dublin duly held strong over the conclusion of the game to capture the Leinster title.

SCORERS – Dublin: C Costello 3-4 (0-1f), C McHugh 0-4 (0-1f), G Burke 0-3, N Walsh 0-2, R Gaughan, S Carthy (0-1 ‘45’), Shane Cunningham, Niall Scully 0-1 each. Meath: F Ward 0-6 (0-5f), C O’Sullivan 1-0, P Kennelly, S Coogan, B Dardis, J Daley, A Flanagan 0-1 each.   
DUBLIN: L Molloy; R McGowan, D Byrne, E Mullan; M Mac Donncha, C Mulally, E Lowndes; Stephen Cunningham, S Carthy; G Burke, N Scully, N Walsh; C McHugh, R Gaughan, C Costello.  Subs: D Gormley for Walsh (45), Shane Cunningham for Gaughan (51), D Campbell for McHugh (57), M Deegan for Costello (58), B Bentley for Carthy (61). 
MEATH: J Hannigan; B Power, D Smyth, S Gallagher; P Kennelly, S McEntee, R Ó Coileáin; A Flanagan, P Harnan; C O’Sullivan, J Daley, J McEntee; B Dardis, F Ward, S Coogan. Subs: C Carton for Kennelly (17), Kennelly for Coogan and J O’Malley for Smyth (half-time), H Rooney for Harnan (43), C Gillespie for Ó Coileáin.
REFS: D Brazil (Offaly), replaced at half-time by A Nolan (Wicklow).