Meath 0-21
Dublin 0-17
(After extra-time)

Dublin's defence of their Cadbury All-Ireland U21 crown crashed at the first hurdle on Wednesday night as old rivals Meath came out on top after extra-time at Pairc Tailteann.

The Dubs had six of the side who started last year's All-Ireland final still in situ, including defenders Sean Murray, James McCarthy and Darragh Nelson, all of whom have featured for the county seniors in the opening rounds of the Allianz National League.

However, they had no answer to the Royals' extra-time surge in a cracking encounter in Navan.

Meath hit the ground running with two points from Michael Newman helping them into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead, and a big decision went their way in the 10th minute when a Dublin goal, struck by Philip Ryan, was chalked off with referee Damien Brazil having already awarded a free to the Dubs.

Meath led by double scores (0-10 to 0-5) at the interval, and it could have been even better with Darragh Smith firing over the bar from his side's best goal chance.

But substitute Paul Hudson led the Dublin revival after half-time, hitting 0-3 to help his side come back and they went two clear when backs Darragh Nelson and Kevin O'Brien got forward to score.

Meath were not to be denied, however, and despite scoring just two points in the second half up to that point, they doubled that tally through Andrew Tormey and Newman in the closing stages to take the game to extra-time.

Buoyed by that comeback, Meath were much better during extra-time, with Smith - with his fourth point of the night - and Shane Gillespie seeing them into a two-point interval lead, and they closed it out in style to win by four - a repeat of the margin when these sides met in the minor grade three years ago.

Meath: C McHugh; C McPartland, S Curran, W Ryan; D Keoghan, C Lenehan (0-1), M O'Sullivan; B Menton (0-1), J Owens; P Gilsenan (0-2, 1 free), D Smith (0-4), D Larkin; M Battersby (0-1), N Murphy, M Newman (0-7, 5 frees). Subs: S Dalton (0-2) for Larkin (39 mins), A Tormey (0-1) for Murphy (44), S Gillespie (0-1) for Battersby (54), W Carry (0-1) for Owens (54), E Murray for Gilsenan, N Judge for Smith, S Tobin for Menton (all in extra-time).

Dublin: R O'Flaherty; K O'Brien (0-1), J McCarthy, D Nelson (0-1), G Seaver (0-2), S Murray, G McArdle; D Murphy, C Reddin; C Dorney (0-1), D Rock (0-7, 6 frees), G Sweeney; P Ryan (0-1), G McIntyre, D Stapleton. Subs: M Concar for McArdle (24 mins), H Dawson (0-1) for McIntyre (26), E Keogh for Murphy (37), P Hudson (0-3) for Stapleton (37), P Houlihan for Ryan (60), P Keaney for Reddin, A McCarrick for Concar, McIntyre for Rock (all in extra-time).

Referee: D Brazil (Offaly). Tweet

Most Read Stories