Two goals inside the opening three minutes paved the way for an impressive Dublin victory over Roscommon in last night's Cadbury All-Ireland U21FC semi-final at Kingspan/Breffni Park.

Dublin 2-10
Roscommon 0-8

Although Roscommon opened the scoring after 30 seconds, Dublin replied with a David Quinn goal and a converted penalty 90 seconds later by Dean Rock to take an early grip on proceedings. The penalty was awarded for a foul on Ted Furman.

A Ciaran Dorney point extended the Leinster champions' lead to 2-2 to 0-1, but they failed to score again until in first half injury-time when Nicky Devereux pointed to give them a 2-3 to 0-4 cushion at half-time. In between, Roscommon dominated possession with Donie Shine influential at midfield following his switch from full forward, but they could only add three points to their tally.

With Shine and Darren McDermott pointing, the Connacht champions closed to the gap to 2-3 to 0-6 with 17 minutes remaining. Indeed, they could have been level by this stage had Alan O'Hara made contact with a low ball driven across the face of the Dublin goal.

Furman's dismissal on a second yellow card in the 41st minute didn't make Dublin's task any easier, but they responded to this setback by reeling off five unanswered points in the space of eight minutes to break Roscommon's spirit. Half-time substitute Robbie McCarthy accounted for three of them, while Devereux and Rock were also on the mark for Jim Gavin's side.

The Dubs will face Donegal in the decider on Saturday, May 1 (7pm) in the same Cavan venue when they will go in search of their first All-Ireland title in the grade since 2003.

Scorers - Dublin: D Rock 1-2 (1f), D Quinn 1-0, R McCarthy 0-3, N Devereux, G Sweeney, B O'Rorke, C Mullins, C Dorney 0-1 each. Roscommon: D Shine 0-4 (4f), N Carty, K Higgins, C Shine, D McDermott 0-1 each

Dublin: V Whelan; E Culligan, R O'Carroll, D Nelson; J Cooper, S Murray, N Devereux; J McCarthy, C Mullins; C Dorney, D Rock, G Sweeney; B O'Rourke, D Quinn, T Furnman. Subs: J McDermott for J McCarthy (h-t), M Coughlan for C Dorney (h-t), R McCarthy for B O'Rorke (33), C Reddin for D Quinn (57), N Brogan for N Devereux (59).

Roscommon: D O'Malley; P O'Grady, N Collins, M Higgins; J McKeague, N Daly, E Bannon; N Carty, K Higgins ; P Garvey, C Shine, B Murtagh; N Kilroy, D Shine , D McDermott. Subs: A O'Hara for C Shine (20), E Kenny for B Murtagh (44), R Gleeson for N Collins (52), L O'Connor for P Garvey (57).

Referee: C Branagan (Down). Tweet

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