Dublin end drought with U21 win

Dublin 0-12 Tyrone 0-7

Tommy Lyons' Dublin ended a 39-year wait for their first All-Ireland under-21 football title with a powerful display of strong running and quality scores against Tyrone at Pairc Tailteann, Navan.

Dublin started well with scores from Conal Keaney and Declan Lally, but a Leo Meenan point in the eighth minute squared matters at 0-2 apiece, following an excellent block by Tyrone captain Peter Donnelly.

An offload by Colin Prenderville after 21 minutes gave Dublin skipper Alan Brogan the chance to slot over for Dublin’s fourth point with his left foot.

Top scorer Johnny Noonan pointed a free two minutes later before keeper Paul Copeland parried a goal bound shot by Aidan McCarron.

Slack marking by Dublin saw Tyrone senior Sean Cavanagh point after 27 minutes to close the deficit to two.

Noonan’s second free ended the half’s scoring, giving Dublin their half-time lead.

A right wing point from Brogan extended the Dubs' lead by the second half’s fourth minute.

Noonan pointing his 15th point of the championship and Dublin’s eighth of the day three minutes later.

Points from half-forward Joe McMahon and a second for McCarron reduced the margin to four points, sandwiched between Graham Cullen’s second on 41 minutes.

But Dublin’s broken play improved greatly as they entered the final 10 minutes, with forwards Lally and Brogan notching further scores.

McCarron and substitute Tommy McGuigan led Tyrone’s reply, but it was fitting that Dublin midfielder Declan O’Mahony, excellent throughout, hit over a right sided free as the game moved into injury time to secure a deserved win.

Scorers: Dublin: J Noonan (0-3 (2f)), A Brogan (0-3), G Cullen, D Lally (0-2) each, C Keaney, D O’Mahony (0-1) each

Tyrone: A McCarron, T McGuigan (0-2) each, J McMahon, L Meenan, S Cavanagh (0-1) each