Louth 4-7 Offaly 0-12 Although they were clearly the better side and should have won with a bit more to spare, Dublin had to survive a scare at the end of Saturday's Leinster minor football clash with Meath at Navan's Páirc Tailteann.
In a scrappy first half the sides shared 15 wides with Dublin hitting eight. But the side in blue were looking promising in attack with Aidan Relihan and John O'Hara impressing in the corners.
They led by 0-6 to 0-0 before Andrew Hayes punched to the net before the break. Meath were fortunate to be so close at the halfway stage but Dublin produced a trump card for the second half with Mark Vaughan improving their attack.
Dublin looked to be on the way to a comfortable victory when leading by 0-11 to 1-2 some 11 minutes into the second period.
But then came a Meath revival with Killian Porter finding the net from close range to leave just four points in it. But Dublin did not panic and finished strongly, with Relihan adding two points.
DUBLIN: K Walsh; S Kinsella, C Clere, C Ó Moráin; D Reilly, G Brennan, I Ward; B Phelan, J Coughlan; J O'Brien, B Kennedy (0-1), C Noone (0-2); A Relihan (0-3), F Fitzgerald (0-2), J O'Hara (0-3). Subs: M Vaughan (0-3) for O'Brien, D Walsh for Kinsella, C Moore for Noone.
MEATH: J O'Connor; C Kenny, C King, D Smith; M Burke, A Johnson, B Smith; C O'Keeffe, B Regan; R Madden, J Carry-Lynch, K Porter (1-1); P Rispin, A Hayes (1-2), C Ward (0-1). Subs: B Ryan for Johnson, B Ennis for Smith, S O'Toole for Rispin, J Kinsella for O'Keeffe.
Referee: P Finnegan (Louth).
It was simply a stroll for Kildare as they cruised past Wexford in this Leinster minor football championship clash at Wexford Park on Saturday.
The sides went in level at the break 0-7 to 2-1, the Wexford goals courtesy of Jonathan Fogarty and Shane Dunphy.
The second half saw the Kildare team dominate with Tommy Archibald scoring a 59th minute goal to seal their victory.
KILDARE: J Kindregan; C O'Neill, E Naughton, K Fadian; B Cocoman, P O'Neill, E Bolton (0-1); R Glavin, D Flynn (0-1); A Darmody (0-1), J Kavanagh (0-2), B Murphy (0-2); M Conway (0-2), T Archibald (1-2), DJ Canning (0-3, 2f). Subs: B Flanagan for Bolton, M Scanlan for Darmody, F Carr for Conway, K Dempsey for C O'Neill, M Treacy for Canning.
WEXFORD: D Hartley; B Malone, M Hanrahan, J Byrne; T Hore, A Doyle, E Sheridan; S Dunphy, M Doyle; P White, J Fogarty (1-0), P J Banville; Philip Cullen (1-2, 1f, one 45), G Molloy, D Shannon. Subs: D Kehoe for Cullen, Paraic Cullen for White, S Donelan for Dunphy.
Referee: S Farrell (Dublin).
Louth earned a Leinster MFC semi-final place against Dublin following victory over Offaly in Ardee on Saturday.
Offaly's Niall McNamee scored three points in the first eight minutes. A Shane Lennon goal then levelled the score.
Mark McCormack's goal three minutes after the re-s gave Louth the initiative and a Hugh McGinn goal on 47 minutes gave them a 3-7 to 0-10 lead.
A minute into injury-time Lennon rounded off an excellent display at full forward with his second goal to round off the win.
LOUTH: N Gallagher; D Stephenson, P Lynch, A Murphy; A Tinley, C Sheridan; H McGinn (1-0), S Gilsenan, R Kearney (0-1); J O'Brien, R Carroll, E Duffy; T O'Brien, S Lennon (2-6, 4f), M McCormack (1-0). Subs: V Loughran for D Stephenson (48 mins), D Crilly for E Duffy (58 mins).
OFFALY: E Brennan; M Cassidy, R Connor, N Spain; J Keane, C Kiely, B Darby; W Crampton, C Gavin; T Phelan, T Coughlan, E Dunne (0-2); S Casey (0-1), N McNamee (0-8, 4f) G O'Grady (0-1). Subs: P Sullivan for T Phelan (37 mins), D Donoghue for T Coughlan (52 mins).
Referee: D Colderick (Meath)
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