Dublin could afford the luxury of 21 wides as they cruised to a 12-point victory over Carlow in their opening Bord Gais Energy Leinster U21HC defence at Dr Cullen Park last night.

Dublin 4-11
Carlow 0-11

John McEvoy's Dubs played with the aid of a strong wind in the first half, but fell behind to an early Daryl Roberts point. The visitors hit seven wides before midfielder Barry Mulligan eventually opened their account in the 13th minute.

The sides were level on 0-3 when the Carlow defence failed to deal with a long free from full forward Sean McGrath and senior star Liam Rushe was on hand to score the first of four Dublin goals in the 19th minute.

Despite continuing to rack up the wides, the holders went into the break leading 1-6 to 0-4.
The game was effectively ended as a contest seven minutes after the restart when Kevin O'Loughlin's goal made it 2-9 to 0-6. Dublin never looked back after that and a brace of late goals from substitute Ciaran Brennan saw them qualify for a semi-final against Offaly with plenty to spare.

Overall, Carlow were far too reliant on free-taker Paul Coady who accounted for 0-8 of their tally from placed balls.

Scorers - Dublin: K O'Loughlin 1-2, C Brennan 2-0, L Rushe 1-1, D Dillon 0-3, S McGrath 0-2 (2f), B Mulligan, M Schutte, R Mahon 0-1 each. Carlow: P Coady 0-8 (8f), D Roberts, P Kehoe, E Byrne 0-1 each.

Dublin - G McManus; B O'Carroll, J Doughan, C Gough; D Curran, M Quilty, S O'Connor; D Sutcliffe, B Mulligan; D Plunkett, L Rushe, R Mahon; K O'Loughlin, S McGrath, E Dillon. Subs: M Schutte for Mulligan (h-t); D Kelly for O'Connor (41); C Brennan for McGrath (44); F Clabby for O'Carroll (55); T Connolly for Dillon (58).
Carlow - N Roberts; S Kelly, G Kelly, T Nolan; D English, J Corcoran, James Doyle; P Coady, P McElligot; John Doyle, E Byrne, D Murphy; D Roberts, C Lawlor, P Kehoe. Subs: G Bennett for McElligot (h-t); A McDonald for John Doyle (37); John Hughes for Kelly (55).

Ref - S Whelan (Wexford). Tweet

Most Read Stories