Goals costly as step up proves too much

Dublin..................... 3-15

Meath .....................0-10

It was a tough day out for the Meath hurlers, who suffered a comprehensive defeat to Dublin in the opening round of the Leinster u-20 HC Phase Two at a windswept Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon, writes Eanna Mackey.

Meath qualified for Phase Two of the Leinster Championship following impressive wins over Antrim and Carlow in the earlier knockout rounds. They are joined in Group Two by Dublin, Offaly and Laois.

The Royals trailed by six at the interval but were still very much in the contest with the wind at their backs for the second half.

However, a defensive mistake allowed Darragh Kilduff to sneak in for Dublin’s third goal and virtually end the game as a contest shortly after the restart.

In saying that, Meath were extremely wasteful in the second period and hit eight scoreable wides during a barren spell in the third quarter, which completely sapped whatever momentum they might have hoped to build.

The home side opted to play with the aid of a gale-force breeze, but it was the Royals who got off the mark early, with Mark Leavy raising a white flag within the first minute to settle the Meath men.

Dublin responded through Daniel O’Kelly as the Commercials clubman opened up his shoulders to land a monster score from distance, aided by the gale at his back.

In the sixth minute, Callum Graham scored the first of the day’s goals, getting on the end of a penetrating run from Tom Higgins to rifle his shot to the net and make it 1–1 to 0–1.

However, the Royals responded well as Mark Leavy and a Louis McIvor free cut the gap to the minimum by the 11th minute before Rory Duffy added a point from play for the Dubs.

On the quarter-hour mark, Callum Graham doubled both his own and Dublin’s goal tally, this time roofing his shot after getting in behind the Meath full-back line, extending the home side’s advantage to five as the scoreboard read 2–2 to 0–3.

Once again, however, the Royals showed resilience and responded with the next two scores. McIvor pointed with a rasping shot that went narrowly over when a goal was on, and then the Donaghmore/Ashbourne starlet added another to make it 0-5 to 2-3 by the 20th minute.

Darragh Kilduff and O’Kelly added a point apiece for the capital before McIvor converted another free. Full-forward Aaron Gargan got himself up and running with the final score of the half as Callum Graham’s goals proved the difference at the break, with the Dubs ahead by six, 2–6 to 0–6.

Cathal Barron got the Royals off to the perfect start after the break with a superb effort, but just 60 seconds later the game was all but put to bed.

An attempted point from Aaron Gargan was held up by the breeze, and as it dropped dangerously on top of Conor Cummings, the Meath goalkeeper misjudged its flight, and Darragh Kilduff simply stroked the ball home for Dublin’s third goal.

Fionn Murphy followed up with a score from play to push Dublin’s advantage to nine before Louis McIvor saw his effort saved by Seán O’Neill with a superb full-stretch dive in what proved a crucial moment in shutting out any signs of a Meath fightback.

McIvor pointed the resulting '65' as Michael Tierney and Darren O’Higgins traded scores, but that was to be Meath’s final score for 19 minutes before Mark Leavy eventually ended their drought five minutes from time.

A Darragh Kilduff brace and an Alex Gargan score pushed the Dubs 3–11 to 0–9 in front before Leavy pointed in the 55th minute. Gargan, Conor Dillon, Tommy Cullen and Harry Curley all added to the Dublin tally as the game petered out and the hosts eased victory to get off to the perfect start.

It was a steep learning curve for a talented Meath side, but they will have little time to dwell on the defeat with the visit of Offaly to Kildalkey on Thursday evening.

Dublin: Sean O’Neill; Massimo Pappalardo, William Wheatley, Luke Mooney; Rory Duffy (0-1), Harry Curley (0-1), Tommy Cullen (0-1); Finnian Donohoe, Michael Tierney (0-1); Tom Higgins, Daniel O’Kelly (0-3 two frees), Fionn Murphy (0-1); Callum Graham (2-1), Aron Gargan (0-3), Darragh Kilduff (1-3 one free). Subs - Cathal O’Flynn for O’Duffy 38m, James Norris for O’Kelly 50m, Conor Dillion (0-1) for Finnian Donohue 48m, George O’Toole for Darragh Kilduff 50m.

Meath: Conor Cummings; Brian Stagg, Adam O’Donoghue, Alex Fox; Anthony Healy, Jack McKeown, Fergal Flynn; Finn Conroy, Edward Dunne; Louis McIvor (0-5 two frees, one '65'), Mark Leavy (0-3 one free), Cathal Barron (0-1); Darren O’Higgins (0-1), Kyle Ennis, Patrick Jordan. Subs - Joey Christie for Conroy 38m, Eoin Carroll for McIvor 56m.

Referee - Conor Daly (Kildare).