Meath's hopes of winning the last-ever Leinster U21 football championship were dramatically nipped in the bud at Mullingar tonight.

In an absorbing and at times tempestuous first-round derby encounter played in atrocious conditions at the aptly-named Lakepoint Park, corner back Boidu Sayeh netted a 55th-minute winning goal as the hosts prevailed by 2-8 to 0-12 to set up a home quarter-final date with holders Dublin next Wednesday night.

The Royals looked on course for victory when registering three unanswered points between the 42^nd and 45^th minutes to open up a 0-12 to 1-6 lead but the spirited and skilful midlanders never gave up and - aided by the dismissal of visiting captain Brian Conlon on 50 minutes - notched 1-2 without reply in the last quarter to win by two. The winners finished the game with 14 men, the losers with 13.

Another sequence of three points without reply in the last four minutes of the first half had helped the Royals take a slender 0-7 to 1-3 lead into the break. It was no surprise that the game took some time to ignite considering that the players were grappling with unforgiving conditions at St Loman's, but spring to life it did in the 24^th minute when the hosts bolted ahead courtesy of a Ronan O'Toole penalty goal.

Conor Moriarty got the Royal County up and running in the seventh minute after the winners had knocked over the first two points of the night, both from Millltownpass' Finbar Coyne - whose three-point tally on the night was matched by corner forward Darren Giles, who clipped over three frees. Curraha clubman Moriarty followed up with the equalising score 60 seconds later.

The Lake men led by the odd point from five at the midway stage in the first half but Sean Reilly drew the visitors level again before edging them ahead for the first time in the 23^rd minute. O'Toole made no mistake when the midlanders were awarded a penalty, finding the net to propel his side into a 1-3 to 0-4 lead with six minutes left before the break.

Westmeath's Darren Giles celebrates at the final whistle.
©INPHO/James Crombie.

But the Royal County rallied and cancelled out the goal with three unanswered points from full forward David McLoughlin and half forwards Daragh Campion and Thomas O'Reilly to take the narrowest of interval advantages.

Upon the restart, the visitors continued where they had left off as McLoughlin and O'Reilly each grabbed their second points, making it five in a row either side of the break. But it was now the Lake men's turn to hit a rich vein of form and a streak of three quick points had them level again five minutes into the second half.

Wolfe Tones ace O'Reilly slotted two more points either side of one from McLoughlin to propel Barry Callaghan's charges back into a three-point lead at the three-quarters stage, 0-12 to 1-6. But that was as good as it got for Meath as their neighbours now took control...

With the gap back down to two, the visitors suffered a big blow when centre back Conlon from county champions Simonstown Gaels received his marching orders with ten minutes left.

That red card proved to be a real turning point as a Westmeath side that refused to accept defeat took full advantage. They halved the deficit before plundering their second major via unlikely match-winner Sayeh five minutes from the end - the last score of the game was certainly the decisive one! Another late flashpoint saw Coyne and Meath's Robin Clarke also dismissed - an ugly end to the game on a beautiful night for Westmeath football.

Westmeath - K Fagan; P Murray, R Wallace, B Sayeh (1-0); D Conway, M Kelly, I McGovern; N Mitchell, L O'Reilly; S Clavin (0-1), R O'Toole (1-0pen), E O'Brien; F Coyne (0-3), T Adamson, D Giles (0-3f). Subs: C Shanley (0-1) for T Adamson, C Dillon for E O'Brien, J Kearney for S Clavin, M Darling for D Conway, G Murray for I McGovern.

Meath - J Lynch; E Greene, R Clarke, J Reilly; J Mooney, B Conlon, C Devlin; S Reilly (0-2), S Noonan; E Smyth, T O'Reilly (0-4, 2f), D Campion (0-1); C Moriarty (0-2), D McLoughlin (0-3), F Reilly. Subs: D O'Neill for C Devlin, C Harnan for E Greene, R Jones for E Smyth, D McEntee for F Reilly, J Scully for C Moriarty, J McLoughlin for S Noonan.

Referee- S Mulhare.

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