Hopes of capturing a first provincial title since 1993 evaporated quickly as Meath were dumped out at the quarter-final stage of the Leinster MFC by a fluent Dublin side at Pairc Tailteann last May. It was the end of a very short championship season for the young Royals who were trying to go one better than the team of 2002 and capture the Leinster and All-Ireland titles. There was some optimism surrounding the squad that they would be the team to finally bring back a Leinster title after ten years without success. Following on from the breakthrough made by the 2002 minor team it was believed that the side of 2003 would have enough talent within their squad and would be capable of bringing back that elusive Leinster title. The squad included six players from the 2002 panel, in the shape of Dunboyne's Johnny O'Connor, O'Mahony's Barry Regan, Round Towers' Justin Carry-Lynch, St. Cianan's Anthony Johnson, Nobber's Andrew Hayes and St. Martin's Caoimhin King who was also the team captain. All six members of the previous years panel had playing experience at this level, indeed Barry Regan and Caoimhin King played every game for the previous years team. These six players took a central role in the team with Johnny O'Connor playing in goals, Caoimhin King at full-back, Anthony Johnson wore the number 6 shirt, Barry Regan in midfield, Justin Carry-Lynch at centre-half-forward and Andrew Hayes playing full-forward. Caoimhin King was joined in the full-back line by the uncompromising Ciaran Kenny of Simonstown and Round Tower's Declan Smith. Anthony Johnson was accompanied by two superb wing backs in Longwood's Michael Burke and Ballinlough's Benji Smith. Trim's Conor O'Keeffe partnered Barry Regan at midfield. Ratoath's Robert Madden and Carnaross' Cillian Porter flanked Justin Carry-Lynch in the half-forward line. Summerhill's Paul Rispin and Wolfe Tones' Cian Ward played alongside Andrew Hayes in the full-forward line. Meath can count themselves slightly unlucky as regards injuries leading into the game because both of their Irish U17 Compromise Rules players, Na Fianna's Dean Barrett and O'Mahony's Kevin Reilly, were unable to start the clash against Dublin due to injuries picked up during the series in which both players excelled. Reilly tore his hamstring in the second test in Croke Park against Australia and wasn't even fit enough to take his place on the bench against the Dubs while Barrett was introduced as a first half substitute after breaking his jaw against the Aussies. This was unfortunate as both players would have been valuable members of the team. Reilly was also a member of the St. Pats Navan team that reached the Leinster Final and indeed four members of that St. Pats team started against Dublin, these included Kenny, Hayes, Regan and Ward while O'Mahony's Stephen O'Toole was introduced as a second half substitute against the Dubs. Other members of the St. Pats team, Castletown's Jimmy Finnerty and Reilly, missed out through injury. The game was played on the 17 May on a very wet and windy day in Pairc Tailteann and the conditions suited the very big and physical Dublin side. Their slick attacking play and pace left the Meath defence in their wake as they went on to record a four point victory on a scoreline of 0-14 to 2-4. This winning margin didn't flatter the Dubs as, were it not for the heroics of Johnny O'Connor in the Meath goals and some wasteful finishing from the Dublin forwards the winning margin could have been much larger. Dublin opened the scoring after seven minutes through wing forward Conor Noone and raced into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead after 25 minutes with points coming from corner forward John O'Hara (3), Noone again and full-forward Francis Fitzgerald. Meath finally opened their account on 26 minutes through a goal from full-forward Andrew Hayes who bravely fisted to the net following a speculative centre from Justin Carry-Lynch. The move started in the Meath defence and involved Michael Burke, Benji Smith, Cillian Porter and Carry-Lynch before Hayes finished it to the net. Meath went in at half time then only three points down 0-6 to 1-0 and there were hopes that a comeback could be staged although Meath had shown very little in the opening period to suggest that such a fight back was on the cards. Meath started the second half brightly and snatched a point through Andrew Hayes. Dublin then scored three unanswered points to stretch their lead to five points before Barry Regan won possession brilliantly and set up Cillian Porter who kept Meath in contention with a point. Meath's defence was exposed again however as Dublin's centre-half forward Barry Kennedy skipped by two challenges and gave Dublin a 0-10 to 1-2 lead before Aidan Relihan added another point for the Dubs. Ward then popped over a free from the forty five metre line after Carry-Lynch was fouled and Hayes added another point seconds later following more good combination play. Dublin's lead was now cut to 0-11 to 1-4 before Mark Vaughan added his third point after coming on as a half time sub to put five points between the teams again. A minute later substitute Stephen O'Toole slipped at the vital moment when he looked destined to score a Meath goal and this incident really summed up Meath's afternoon. Two minutes later however Cillian Porter gave Meath a lifeline when he tapped the ball into an unguarded Dublin net following great work from O'Toole after he beat two Dublin players to knock a high Barry Regan centre down. This left just two points between the teams 0-12 to 2-4 and with Meath on top for the first time in the game at midfield a trademark Meath comeback seemed likely. However, after a Meath move broke down Dublin regained possession and broke downfield to score a point following a superb save from Johnny O'Connor. The Dubs added an insurance point seconds later to secure victory and send the Royal hopefuls crashing out of the Leinster MFC. It was a very disappointing day for Meath because they never really got going and this above all else will rankle with the players and the management team of Benny Reddy, Oliver Cudden, Paddy Ward, Peter O'Toole, Eamon Gillic and Seamus Brennan. Dublin were the better team on the day and led from start to finish so the young Royals can have no right to feel aggrieved at the end result. Meath's use of the ball was poor and a lot of their moves broke down because of their inability to find a team mate with an accurate pass. There were only a few Meath players who won their individual battles throughout the whole game. Speaking after the game Meath manager Benny Reddy said: "We can't complain, we never got going at all, we were living off scraps and Dublin won a lot of breaking ball. You can't blame anyone, the game is over, Dublin won and best of luck to them in the future. First round games are always very difficult, you never know what is going to happen. If you get over the first round your laughing because the second round is not until the exams are over and there is a different perspective on everything then. "We needed a couple of early scores in the second half, but it was difficult to get anything out of a very strong Dublin defence who played well throughout. The lads out there today gained valuable experience that will stand to them in the future and that's important. There are a few players who will be back next year such as Cian Ward, Dean Barrett and Stephen O'Toole and others and they will benefit from the experience, but you have to keep working at it. Maybe we take it for granted, but we have to keep working at the under-age game here. Maybe we're not as good as we think we are at under-age level. You have to look after young players and keep working at that and hopefully that's what we'll continue to do in Meath. I'm sad for our young lads who trained hard and gave it everything today but it just didn't work out for them. It was very difficult for Meath to gain a foothold in the game. Last year we defeated Kildare in the first round and the whole thing just kept bubbling on from there, however this time it fell flat for us, but that's what happens sometimes, these lads know you have to take the rough with the smooth," he concluded. We can have no doubts that Meath performed well below their potential and on the day some of the players unfortunately just didn't perform. Six of the panel of 21 are available next year namely Ward, Barrett, O'Toole, Conor O'Keeffe, Brendan Ryan, Jamie Queeney and they will have also have Kevin Reilly back fit. Next years team will have a number of very talented players and they will fancy their chances of bringing home that elusive Leinster title which has evaded Meath minor teams for the last 11 years. The Meath team that lost to Dublin was: 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, C Porter (1-1), P Rispin, A Hayes (1-2), C Ward (0-1). Subs - D Barrett for R Madden, B Ryan for A Johnson, B Ennis for D Smith, S O'Toole for P Rispin, J Kinsella for C O'Keeffe. Sub not used - J Queeney Tweet

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