Dublin turn on style to beat lacklustre Louth

Leinster MFC Semi-final replay: Dublin 1-12 Louth 1-7 Dublin's minor footballers turned on the style in Navan's Pairc Tailteann last evening, and, displaying finishing power which would have made the county seniors envious, they advanced to the Leinster final at the expense of a disappointing Louth.

Apart from a couple of brief spells, Louth were always inferior and lagging behind their opponents, although a rally during which a deficit of five points was reduced to two did cause anxiety for Dublin.

When Mark Vaughan netted to complete a swift passing movement involving Brendan Phelan and Aidan Relihan 12 minutes after the restart, Dublin were well on the way to victory, leading by 1-7 to 0-4. Even more so when the advantage was stretched to 1-9 to 0-5 five minutes later.

Just when Dublin appeared to be cruising to a final place against Laois, Louth found some inspiration, with Shane Lennon central to the revival, the captain kicking over two points, and Trevor O'Brien finding the net as he did in the drawn tie.

But Dublin responded with three unanswered points. Francis Fitzgerald and John O'Hara doubled the lead before substitute John O'Brien closed the scoring with his first touch. Dublin had the better of the first half and they led by 0-6 to 0-3 at the interval.

DUBLIN: K Walsh; A Downes, K Cleere, W Lowry; D Reilly, G. Brennan, I Ward; B Phelan, J Coughlan; M Vaughan (1-2), B Kennedy (0-1), D O'Reilly (0-1); A Relihan (0-3), F Fitzgerald (0-2), J O'Hara (0-2). Subs: C Moore for Kennedy, J O'Brien (0-1) for O'Hara, C Noone for O'Reilly.

LOUTH: N Gallagher; S Gilsenan, P Lynch, A Murphy; A Tinley, C Sheridan, H McGinn; D Crilly, R. Carroll; J O'Brien, M Fanning, D Boylan (0-1); T O'Brien (1-1), S Lennon (0-5), M McCormack. Subs: E Duffy for McCormack, D Greene for Crilly, R McCabe for J O'Brien, G Sullivan for Boylan, S Fee for Duffy.

Referee: F Barrett (Kildare).

In the Leinster junior hurling championship Meath beat Louth 4-10 to 2-13 in Navan last night. The other junior hurling semi-final between Kildare and Longford will be played next week.

SCORERS: Meath (B Murray 2-1, C Doherty 1-3, J Melia 1-1, F Fagan 0-2, D Troy, C Ferguson, P Hanley 0-1 each). Louth - R Byrne 0-8, T Corcoran 1-3, P Dyas 1-0, G Collins, D Mulholland 0-1 each.