Meath take the spoils as Dublin fail to spark

Meath won their first Leinster under-21 football title for four years after a one-sided and less than entertaining final at Newbridge on Saturday.

Dublin never once took the lead and, minus the services of injured Dublin senior player Colin Moran, they struggled to make any impact up front and were much less effective than in the semi-final.

Stephen Bray opened the scoring for Meath and although Wayne McCarthy managed to level matters, the winners hit three more points without reply before the end of the opening quarter.

The absence of Moran seemed to tell against Dublin, who failed to score from play in the opening half and relied exclusively on the free-taking abilities of McCarthy for their scores.

Meath played with the wind advantage for the opening half and a 45 converted by Glenn Loughran helped them to a 0-6 to 0-2 halftime lead.

To make matters worse for Dublin, they lost James Gahan because of a leg injury just before the interval and when Stephen Bray got the first score of the second half they found themselves under even greater pressure.

McCarthy got Dublin's first and only score from play in the 39th minute and he scored again from a free 11 minutes later after Meath had restored their four-point advantage.

The closest Dublin came to causing an upset was when McCarthy stepped up to close the gap to three points with yet another free.

This score followed two Dublin wides and the goal they needed to rescue the game never came. Instead, Meath scored twice from play before the end to make sure of a deserved win.

MEATH: D Gallagher; D Clarke, H Gribbin, R Kelly; J Donoghue, N Kennedy, S Kenny; C McCarthy, G Loughran (0-2, free and 45); C Reynolds, N Kelly (0-2, sideline, free), B Lynch (0-2, one free); S Bray (0-2), D Crimmins (0-1), T Loughran (0-1). Sub: M Doran for T Loughran (56 mins).

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; G Norton, M Breathnach, N Cleere; A Holly, M Kennedy, P Casey; D McGee, C Murphy; A Brogan, R Carroll, L O hEineachain; T Quinn, J Gahan, W McCarthy (0-5, four frees). Subs: M O'Sullivan for Gahan (inj, half-time), P Lawless for Quinn (half-time), D Conlon for Carroll (50 mins), K Golden for McGee (58 mins).

Referee: E Murtagh (Longford).