Dublin U21's are All Ireland Champions

  • Jun 15,2014

Aisling McGing U21 All Ireland Final -

Dublin won the counties’ first All Ireland U21 title today with an empathic 16 point win over Leinster rivals Meath in a contest that was played before a sizeable crowd in Clane, Co Kildare.

The old saying that goals win games was again proven to be true as Dublin raised the green flag on no fewer than six occasions to see off their neighbours, Meath.

Meath kept level with Dublin for the opening quarter the game at this point was an even contest, with both sides exchanging scores.

On the 15th minute, Meath were edging out the blues by 0-03 to 0-02, up front Bridgetta Lynch was in lively form for Meath the Meath number 13 was linking up well with her full forward, Laura Dempsey.

However in the 16th minute Dublin picked up the pace with corner forwards Nicole Owens and Carla Rowe bagging three goals in the space of 3 minutes, hitting Meath with a killer blow.

Meath received two further set backs just before half time, powerful full forward Laura Dempsey had to leave the game with an elbow injury then Meath conceded a penalty which the fore mentioned Owens duly dispatched to the left of Meath keeper Sarah Powderly.

At the interval Gregory McGonigles side took a ten point lead into the dressing room, Dublin 4-03 Meath 0-05.

On the restart, Dublin tagged on two further points one courtesy of Niamh Rickard the second a converted Carla Rowe free.

In the 36th minute, Meath were thrown a life line when referee, Eugene O’Hare awarded the Royal County a penalty. Up stepped corner forward, Aine Bennett however the Oldcastle forward dragged her shot to the right and wide of Dublin keeper Ciara Trant, much to the dismay of the Meath supporters who had made the journey to Clane.

Pacey corner forward Niamh Rickard from Fingallians claimed her sides 5th goal in the 50th minute to all but seal the game for the metropolitans but to their credit Meath as you would expect never gave in and continued to take the game to Dublin. The Royals were rewarded for their efforts in the 54th minute when Bridgetta Lynch defied two Dublin defenders to pop the ball past Trant in the Dublin goal.

Dublin were always a step or two ahead of their Leinster rivals and the industrious Siobhan Woods played her captains part when she bagged Dublin’s 6th goal five minutes from the end. Woods goal was the final nail in the coffin for Meath and when midfielder Molly Lamb punched over Dublin’s 9th point to increase Dublin’s lead to 16 points the Royal County knew they had succumbed once more to their Leinster rivals, final score Dublin 6-9 Meath 1-08.

Dublin: Ciara Trant, Olwen Carey, Lucy Collins, Leah Caffrey, Emma McDonagh, Deirdre Murphy, Martha Byrne, Molly Lamb, Sarah McCaffrey, Margaret Mohan, Aife Kavanagh, Niamh Rickard, Nicole Owens, Siobhan Woods, Carla Rowe

Scorers: Nicole Owens 3-00 (1P), Carla Rowe, 1-03 (3F), Niamh Rickard 1-01, Siobhan Woods 1-01, Aife Kavanagh, Sarah McCaffrey, Molly Lamb, Emma McDonagh 0-01 each

Subs: Aoife Nolan for Rickard, Ailsing King for Owens, Ciara McGuigan for Mohan, Lorna Colgan for Byrne.

Meath: Sarah Powderly, Aideen Guy, Orlaith Duff, Niamh Lister, Laura Bagnall, Michelle Peel, Emma Troy, Maire O’Shaughnessy, Kate Byrne, Meabh Downey, Shauna Ennis, Sinead Coyle, Bridgetta Lynch, Laura Dempsey, Aine Bennett.

Scorers: Bridgetta Lynch 1-03, Sinead Coyle 0-02 (2F), Emma Troy, Kate Byrne, Aine Bennett 0-01 each

Player of the Match: Carla Rowe (Dublin)

Referee: Eugene O’Hare (Down)