Dublin see it all go wrong

THE rather antiquated setting of St Brigid's Park - appropriately just a couple of hundred yards up the road from the Punodalek Burial Ground - proved to be something of a graveyard, yet again, for Dublin footballing ambitions yesterday when the county's under 21 team was dumped out of the Leinster championship.

Louth are making a habit of beating the Dubs here; a little over two months ago they demolished any National League dreams swirling around in the heads of the All Ireland champions. And yesterday's underage championship success was even more brazen, particularly given events in a bizarre first half when Dublin's best laid plans were unceremoniously torn asunder.

As befits a team who undertake training sessions at 6.30 a.m. with the dawn chorus ringing in their ears, Louth didn't waste any time, messing about with formal introductions and raced into a 2-4 to 0-1 lead with a mere 20 minutes gone. Then the whole affair disintegrated into a shambles with skirmishes all over the field.

The end result of the personal battles - albeit some of them of the "handbags at six paces" variety - and various shenanigans was that three players, Darren Homan and Keith Galvin of Dublin and Louth's Brian Murphy, were sent off by referee Paul McGann. All were punished for separate incidents and after McGann had consulted with his umpires.

Dublin may reflect with some regret on being reduced to 13 men for the remainder of the match, but the reality is that the real damage to their cause had already been done. Louth's scoring purple patch had come in a six minute spell between the 14th and 20th minutes, a productive period which yielded 2-3 without reply: the first Louth goal coming courtesy of half back Aaron Hoey, more noted for his hurling ability. He beat Dublin goalkeeper John Leonard with a delicate chip cum shot of which a certain Jason Sherlock (how Dublin could have done with him) would have been proud. Senior fringe player John Levins delivered the second crucial blow, cracking home a great goal after being supplied by Peter O'Kane.

The omens certainly not good for Dublin: a fisted `goal' by Homan or a `square ball' infringement in the 25th minute.

No one could begrudge Louth their half time advantage - 2-5 to 0-1 - but, as often happens to a team with the numerical ad vantage, they allowed their opponents to grab the initiative after the break's cooling down period and Dublin supporters in the 3,000 crowd were entitled to ask - just why Damien Bolger, introduced at half time, was not in the starting line up, as he provided six second half points.

Dublin's only goal came from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute after Niall Flynn was deemed to have fouled Shane Cooke, with Paddy Christie making the trip from defence to fire past Louth goalkeeper Seamus Quigley. Aided and abetted by Bolger, Dublin's revival got them to within two points - 2-5 to 1-6 - midway through the half and a great escape appeared on the cards.

However, Levins, Niall Callan and O'Kane steadied frayed Louth nerves with three points in three minutes from the 47th minute to provide some breathing space. Remarkably, that was to be Louth's last time to trouble the scoreboard operator, and Bolger, who had again narrowed the gap to just three points, had a chance to level matters when clean through in the 54th minute, only to be denied by a brave Quigley save.

Paul Croft grabbed a late Dublin point, but it was Louth - deservedly, if giving some of their fans heart palpitations along the way - who held on to earn a rare enough provincial semi final engagement with Kildare on April 28.