Young Royals whipped by Dublin counterparts

April 10, 2007
Dublin were convincing winners over a lacklustre Meath side at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon. However, team manager Paddy Carr insists that this Meath team has much more in the tank. The Meath minors must now go through the new route should they retain their Leinster MFC title. This means as Dublin continue their march through into the provincial quarter-finals in five weeks time, while Meath must travel to Carlow on Saturday 21st April. Apart from a brief spell in the early stages Dublin were always in control in this Leinster MFC first round tie. They had a foot in the quarters after well taken goals either side of half time from full-forward Shane Gallagher and half-forward Felim McMahon. Carr must now plan without one of only two survivors from last year's squad - Graham Reilly - who was sent-off after giving Ted Furman a piece of his mind after the Dublin attacker put in an aggressive challenge on Meath substitute Eoin Woods. Furman was booked for the tackle while Reilly was shown red for his outburst when a more lenient punishment might have been more viable. Carr hinted that the minor and schools championship must be restructured to give all counties a fair chance to compete. Carr stated, "We looked a bit tired. You're talking about a very good Dublin team. We didn't get a lot of luck with the breaking ball. It was a very 'stop-start' match." This might be because of the referee's over reliance on his whistle, with fifty-two frees - twenty-eight to the visitors awarded. "I thought it was disappointing to see some of the decisions out there today. There was no fluidity to the game," the Walterstown man added. Meath's performance was dire, with only the impressive Brian Sheridan scoring more than one point - the only Meath player to do so. Meath were never in contention and Dublin put an early nail in the coffin. With the scores at 0-2 to 0-3 in the eleventh minute with Meath trailing, the Dubs piled on the pressure and with nine minutes had scored three more points leaving the gap at four. With the half-time whistle about to blow, Meath shot stopper Patrick O'Rourke saved well from Furman. As the next attack came rangy Dublin forward Gallagher was bundled over by David Maguire. Felim McMahon expertly tucked away the penalty with minimal fuss. Sheridan's capability with the dead ball must be commended as cut the Dubs lead to within three points soon after half-time but the impressive McMahon and Gallagher combined as Gallagher rippled the net and saw Dublin double their lead and seal their passage into the last eight. Meath - P. O'Rourke; J. Martin; D. Maguire; C. Malone; M. Battersby; G. Reilly (0-1); D. Smyth; P. Kelly; D. Ryan; N. Heffernan (1-0); J. Broderick(0-1); E. Callaghan; S. Dervan; M. Newman; B. Sheridan (0-5); Subs - E. Woods for Malone (half time), A. Newman for Heffernan (39 mins), M. Collins for Dervan (53 mins), T. Johnson for Ryan (58 mins), C. Mallon for Callaghan (65 mins)

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