Poor finish proves costly as Louth Minors defeated by Dublin

Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship Group 2 Round 1

Louth 1-10 Dublin 1-15

Dublin proved a little too much for the Louth Minors on Wednesday night in Parnell Park, as four in a row from the in-form Lenny Cahill secured the victory for the home team.

The Wee County never led in this contest and were often left struggling to get out of their own half. But they remained resilient, always backing themselves into contention.

Once finding their feet Adam Gilliespie was their star attraction. He notched eight of their scores on the night and coupled with a goal from Shane Lennon on 47 minutes they turned what was once a seven-point deficit into a gap of just one, 1-11 to 1-10.

However, from here the scores dried up, and despite only being two by behind as we entered into added time, it was the men in blue who instead increased their lead late on to record a well-earned five-point victory.

Dublin were on top pretty much from the word go and had bagged a goal within the first 60 seconds of this contest. Senan Ryan picked up the ball near the 40 and duly soloed his way past three defenders before rattling the back of the net.

Harry Curley added to their lead on five minutes, while it took seven minutes before Louth even broke out of their own half. Even then, the relentless pressure saw them quickly overturned.

An Achilles heel at this stage was their kickouts, having lost eight of them in the first half. Cian O’Donoghue was a late addition in between the sticks for Louth and whenever he went long the Dubs were winning possession. Worryingly, it was often through uncontested battles.

But when they could wrestle their way into the opposition half, David Reid’s troops had plenty of weapons that could do damage. Adam Gillespie was a huge asset when getting on the ball, his ability to shrug off the challenges of defenders and draw fouls being a huge help to his team’s cause.

And for now, he was looking like a man possessed, anything falling his way going over the blackspot. His free on eight minutes from range got his team off the mark, and he added a further four efforts to his tally before the end of the opening half.

Helping him get into the scoring zones was the duo of Cormac McKeown and Pearse Grimes Murphy. Their piercing runs helped Louth stay competitive in this contest and stopped the home team from getting away from them.

The sides traded four apiece as the tie evened out more between the 10th and 25th minute respectively. All Louth’s scores coming from the boot of Gillespie, while Lenny Cahill (2), Alex Carolan and Harry Curley hit the target for Dublin.

Their scores seemed to be coming that little bit easier, as there was less pressure coming from tacklers and more space as a result. It often saw them going short from frees instead of shooting, as they favoured recycling the ball into chances closer to the goals.

Dublin were capable of moving the ball faster too, and coupled with continuing to turn the ball over from O’Donoghue’s kickouts the men in blue outscored the visitors 0-4 to 0-1 from here to the short whistle, to leave them 1-9 to 0-6 up at the break.

The complexion of this game could’ve been so different too, as goal chances for both sides, a chance to significantly increase or reduce the gap, went abegging. O’Donoghue producing a point blank save to deny Noah Byrne, while Dublin shot stopper Cillian Murray saved an effort from Conor McGinty.

David Reid knew he needed to really rally his troops for the second half and to their credit they ended up finding themselves on the ball a lot more after the break.

They passed the ball around more confidently and for prolonged spells, which were crucially being spent more often in the Dublin half. However, it didn’t always lead to scores, and the home side’s speed in transitional play meant turnovers were punished.

This was the case with the men in blue’s opener, Luke O’Boyle finishing off a team move after Louth had held the ball well without having a shot at the posts. But Louth’s purple patch was coming, as they outscored their hosts 1-4 to 0-1.

Three huge efforts from Gillespie and a point from McKeown were followed by a super goal on 47 minutes. Paddy McHugh’s diagonal run saw him glide past two defenders, before his handpass fell neatly into the path of an in-running Shane Lennon. From close range he fired home a goal.

Supporters hoped Louth would continue to kick on from here, but sadly they failed to add another effort from here to the finish. While not missing a single effort, other then the late goal effort saved by Murray, in the first half, after the break they notched five. Including two frees from Gillespie.   

Dublin pounced on this as little by little they once again increased their lead, all four of their final scores coming from Cahill. Louth spent plenty of time on the ball, particularly early in the seven plus minutes of injury time, but sadly they couldn’t get the scores as Dublin held on for the win.

Next the Wee County will at least have home comforts, with DEFY Pairc Mhuire playing host to their clash with Westmeath (Throw in 6:30PM). Both teams lost in round 1, meaning it is a must win game for both sides.

DUBLIN: Cillian Murray; Sean Keogh, Cillian Emmett, Jack O’Sullivan: Joshua Young (0-1), Eoghan Costello, Ryan Mitchell; Senan Ryan (0-1), Alex Carolan (0-1); Patrick Coleman (0-1), Luke O’Boyle (0-1), Noah Byrne (1-0); Lenny Cahill (0-7, 0-2 frees), Harry Curley (0-3), Paddy Curry. Subs: Colin McSweeney for Coleman (51), Adam Rock for Young (56), Adam O’Reilly for Ryan (60), Ben Kennedy for Byrne (65), Callum Johnston for Curry (66).

LOUTH: Cian O’Donoghue; Cian Farrell, Ciaran McGinty, Keelin Martin; Josh Taaffe, Padraic Tinnelly, Cormac McKeown (0-1); Conor McGinty, Michael Reid; Liam Brannigan, Dylan Shevlin (0-1), Pearse Grimes Murphy; Shane Lennon (1-0), Adam Gillespie (0-8, 0-5 frees), Sean Flynn. Subs: Paddy McHugh for Brannigan (HT), Jack Healy for McHugh (56), Robert Mathews for Shevlin (60), Lorcan Buckley for Reid (60).

REF: K Olwell (Meath)