Leinster U20 FC round-up: Dublin fight back in second half to see off Westmeath

Dublin 1-15 Westmeath 1-10

For a while at Parnell Park it looked decidedly dodgy for Dublin who had to produce a remarkable second-half display to remain in the EirGrid Leinster under-20 football championship.

Trailing by seven points at half-time, Dublin’s chances of progressing to a semi-final against Meath or Longford next week looked slim.

But a Ryan O’Dwyer goal early in the second half ignited a memorable comeback and the hosts ultimately outscored Westmeath by 1-10 to 0-1 in the second half.

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O’Dwyer finished with 1-2 while captain Adam Waddick was terrific at midfield before limping off late on.

Dublin, hoping to qualify for a ninth provincial final in a row, also lost 2021 finalist Ben Millist to an early injury.

Westmeath senior Senan Baker, son of Clare hurling great Ollie, and Ben McGauran pulled the strings as the Lake County roared 1-9 to 0-5 clear at half-time.

Blood sub Peter Pierson scored the Westmeath goal but they only added one point in the second half, from McGauran, as Dublin doubled down impressively.

DUBLIN: H O'Sullivan; B Millist, T Clancy, K Conroy; C Tyrrell, G McEneaney, D O'Dowd (0-1); A Waddick (0-2), S Forker; T Brennan (0-1), J Lundy, S Smith (0-3); R O'Dwyer (1-2, one free, one mark), L Breathnach (0-1), F Murray (0-3, one free, one 45).

Subs: H Donaghy for Millist (5 mins, inj), S Kinsella (0-2) for Lundy (h-t), L Smith for Donaghy (38), R Cullen for Brennan (39), K O'Brien for Breathnach (52), P Duffy for Waddick (58).

WESTMEATH: M Lynam; R Hanley, S Smyth, D Scahill; D Seery, J Gahan, A Treanor (0-1); S Claffey, C Daly; D McCartan, B McGauran (0-6, four frees), S Leech; M Whittaker (0-1), S Baker (0-2), D Hill.

Subs: P Pierson (1-0) for Leech (30+2 mins-h-t, blood), E Martin for Leech (h-t), D Murtagh for Claffey, Pierson for Hill (both 37), P Quinn for McGauran (58).

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).

Offaly 4-13 Carlow 0-6

The real business will begin for Offaly next Thursday at home to Kildare but they certainly did their confidence no harm with a very convincing win over Carlow in Kilcormac’s Faithful Fields on Thursday evening.

Offaly have hit the ground running in the defence of their Leinster and All-Ireland crowns and they upped the ante here after a hard-earned first-round win over Louth. The Carlow visitors were outclassed as Offaly put in a a super display in the first half. Playing great attacking football, they stormed into a 3-9 to 0-4 half-time lead with goals from Keith O'Neill, Darragh Flynn and the outstanding John Furlong.

Offaly did not keep that red hot pace going in the second half but they didn't need to and their victory was not in the slightest of doubts. They continued to dominate with sub Eoin Murphy punching home the fourth goal in the 41st minute.

OFFALY: S O'Toole; L Pearson, D Finneran, T Hyland; C Ryan, J Furlong (1-1), J Sheerin; M Tynan, A Strong (0-1); F Dempsey (0-1), H Plunkett (0-4, one free), M Dalton (0-1); C Delaney (0-1), K O'Neill (1-2), D Flynn (1-1).

Subs: E Murphy (1-0) for O'Neill (35 mins), J Nolan for Dempsey, J Guing (0-1) for Flynn (both 42), A Egan for Dalton (46), G O'Meara for Furlong (50).

CARLOW: C Kavanagh; K Nolan, S Buggy, M Behan; P Deering, D Curran, P McDonnell; B Lawler, F Fitzpatrick (0-1); A Keating, C O'Neill, L Ramsbottom; B McMahon (0-1, free), F McCaffrey (0-2), R Quinlan (0-1).

Subs: J McCullagh for Keating (21 mins), D Hanley (0-1) for Lawler (43), C Leonard for O'Neill (49), A McDonald for Nolan (56).

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).

Kildare 2-16 Laois 3-11

Kildare had to survive a huge late scare at in Newbridge before making sure of their win.

With two points between the sides, in the last action of the game, a slack pass by Kildare full back Dean O’Donoghue presented Oisín Hooney with a glorious chance to score a match-winning goal, but agonisingly for Laois his shot with the last kick of the match went inches past the post.

Such drama didn’t look on the cards when Kildare raced into a nine-point lead in the first half after goals from O’Donoghue and Daniel Lynam in the first 18 minutes.

Laois struck back with two goals in 60 seconds from Paddy Hosey and Davin McEvoy and just four points separated the sides at half-time.

Again, Kildare took control during the third quarter and stretched their lead to seven but Laois, led by Colin Dunne, rallied in the last 10 minutes and made things very nervy for Kildare, and they were just inches away from snatching a sensational late winner.

KILDARE: C Barker; H O'Neill (0-1), D O'Donoghue (1-0), M Maguire; T Martin, J McGrath, T Gill; B Gibbons, L Killian; N O'Regan (0-1), D Lynam (1-1), A Fanning (0-5); D Swords (0-2), S Farrell (0-1), E Bagnall (0-5, five frees).

Subs: A Boyle for Martin (22 mins); J McKevitt for McGrath; J Dalton for O'Regan (both 49); R Burke for Fanning (55); C Shanahan for Lynam (60).

LAOIS: C Browne; B Reddin, E Delaney, B Dempsey; S Greene, S Fingleton, C Heffernan; C Burke, K Swayne; R Murphy (0-1), D McEvoy (1-0), S Fitzpatrick (1-1); P Hosey (1-1), D Carolan (0-1), C Dunne (0-6, four frees, one mark).

Subs: D Brennan for Reddin (28 mins); O Hooney for McEvoy (41); D Slevin for Burke (45); B Whelan (0-1) for Hosey (52); C Goode for Carolan (55).

Referee: F Pierce (Offaly).