Sensational Meath scalp Louth to claim Leinster crown

Leinster Champions. It has a nice ring to it, and it has certainly been a long time coming for Meath football at under-20 (formerly u-21) level.

For the first time since 2001 Meath were crowned provincial champions at u-20 level and in some style too as the crushed Louth by 3-13 to 0-12 in a pulsating encounter at Parnell Park tonight.

The 10-point margin of victory is harsh on Louth as they contributed handsomely to an outstanding game of football, but there can be no denying Meath's hour of glory.

Of course, this Meath side will have their sights set on national honours. Backboned by the team that enjoyed All-Ireland minor glory just three years ago they look well set to challenge again.

However, it's not just the heroes of 2021 that have inspired this team. Last year's minor captain Eamonn Armstrong once again stole the show with an all-action energiser bunny display that saw him cover every blade of grass at Dublin's HQ twice and contribute 1-2 to the scoreboard.

Another player who wasn't part of the minor success story three years ago is Jamie Murphy and he ran Armstrong close for the best player on show with a 1-5 return that included 1-3 from play and two stunning frees from over 45 metres that the watching Brian Stafford would have been proud of.

Charlie O'Connor is another player who never seriously featured at minor level, but what an impact he had at midfield as Meath dominated that sector and laid the platform for this rousing victory.

Of course captain Liam Kelly, the all-action Conor Ennis and tough tackling, tight marking Sean O'Hare remain from that minor glory year and once again they were magnificent at the heart of a Royal battlement that proved difficult to break down.

John O'Regan was a pillar of strength at centre-back, while Killian Smyth's work rate must have gone close to the mark of Armstrong's figures.

With Jack Kinlough and Charlie O'Connor dominating midfield Meath had the defensive platform and structure to launch attacks from deep and with Hughie Corcoran a perfect foil for Murphy the young Royals excelled, scoring 3-10 of their tally from play.

The hard-hitting, non-stop work of Conor Duke was key to Meath's defensive structure and when he broke he was a real danger with Shaun Leonard linking up well with the hard working Rian McConnell and Brian Stafford's nephew, Rian Stafford.

This was a victory founded on attacking, front-foot football, backed up by a disciplined defensive structure that never took a backwards step against a powerful, fast running Louth side.

Meath remained calm and composed throughout, they never looked rattled, even in the early stages when Louth put them under pressure.

Confident in their ability and assured with their game plan, Meath were the dominant force - even if they were rattled towards the end of the opening quarter.

Scores were hard to come by in the early stages and it took until the fifth minute before Murphy registered the opening point from a massive 46-metre free. Less than a minute later captain Kelly galloped forward to fist over from a tight angle to double Meath's lead.

Louth had their chances and they started to find their range from the seventh minute as Kieran McArdle kicked a 45-metre free between the posts. James Maguire restored parity two minutes later and by the 13th minute Louth were 0-4 to 0-2 ahead with superb scores from the excellent Pearse Grimes Murphy and an outrageous point from McArdle,

Corcoran ended an eight minute barren spell with a point off his left and in the following two minutes Kinlough and Stafford clipped over fine scores to edge Meath into a lead they didn't relinquish.

Ronan Deery stung Oisin McDermott's palms with a strike from distance that he really should have popped over, but Meath took advantage of that let off with Murphy finishing a brilliant move over the bar involving O'Hare, O'Connor and Armstrong.

A minute later Armstrong was at the centre of another fast-flowing move as he linked up with McConnell and Duke before firing an unstoppable goal to make it 1-6 to 0-4.

Louth responded impressively with points from two James Maguire frees, the second after O'Regan produced a magnificent block to deny McArdle, to close the gap to 0-6 to 1-6 at the break.

The second-half continued at the same breakneck speed as the first with Grimes Murphy narrowing the deficit, but Meath's reply was swift and emphatic.

Duke brilliantly flicked on a McDermott kickout into the path of O'Connor, he in turn quickly released Armstrong and he found Murphy who shipped a heavy tackle before turning and blasting to the net to make it 2-6 to 0-7.

Again Louth's response to the concession of a goal was to hit the next two points from Grimes Murphy, whose drive clipped the crossbar on the way over, and McArdle.

Meath never panicked and hit back with a brace of their own from Murphy and Kelly before Grimes Murphy made it 0-10 to 2-8 at the end of the third quarter.

Two magnificent long range frees, one from Corcoran and one from Murphy, stretched Meath's lead to six and with time running out Louth needed a goal, but Meath never gave them a sniff.

McDermott dealt brilliantly with a couple of efforts that dropped short and Murphy stretched Meath's lead beyond two scores with a sublime point with the outside of his right boot to make it 2-11 to 0-10 with six minutes remaining.

Two more points from the irrepressible Armstrong were cancelled out by frees from McArdle as Meath maintained their seven point cushion and with the win guaranteed they added the icing to the already delicious cake when Tadhg Martin accepted a clever pass from O'Connor and blasted Meath's third goal to spark wild celebrations.

Meath are the Leinster u-20 FC champions for the first time in 23 years.

SCORERS

Meath - Jamie Murphy 1-5 two frees; Eamonn Armstrong 1-2; Tadhg Martyn 1-0; Hughie Corcoran 0-2 one free; Liam Kelly 0-2; Jack Kinlough 0-1; Rian Stafford 0-1.

Louth - Kieran McArdle 0-5 three frees; Pearse Grimes Murphy 0-4; James Maguire 0-3 two frees.

TEAMS

Meath - Oisín McDermott (Ballinlough); Conor Ennis (Ballinabrackey), Liam Kelly (Ratoath), Sean O’Hare (Rathkenny); Eamonn Armstrong (Duleek-Bellewstown), John O’Regan (Skryne), Killian Smyth (Castletown); Jack Kinlough (St Peter's), Charlie O’Connor (Dunshaughlin); Shaun Leonard (St Colmcille's), Rian Stafford (Kilmainhamwood), Conor Duke (Dunshaughlin); Hughie Corcoran (Drumbaragh), Jamie Murphy (St Patrick's), Rian McConnell (Castletown). Subs - Conor McWeeney (Kilbride) for Stafford 34m, Tadhg Martyn (Slane) for Leonard 46m, John Harkin (St Peter's) for Corcoran 56m, Seimi Byrne (Seneschalstown) for O'Hare 62m, John Mannion (St Patrick's) for Smyth 65m.

Louth - Cian O'Donoghue; Fionn Tipping, Cameron Maher, Cormac McKeown; Tadhg McDonnell, Aaron McGlew, Keelin Martin; Dara McDonnell, Sean Callaghan; James Maguire, Liam Flynn, Darragh Dorian; Pearse Grimes Murphy, Sean Reynolds, Kieran McArdle. Subs - Ronan Deery for Tipping 17m, James Rogers for Dorian 45m, Conor McGinty for Flynn 49m, Fionn Cummiskey for Callaghan both 52m, Shane Halpenny for Maguire 59m, Tadhg Kellett for Martin 60m.

Referee - Dan Stynes (Dublin).