Dublin U20s cruise to comfortable win

The half-time introduction of Kevin Desmond gave Dublin more firepower as he finished with 1-3

Ballyboden St. Enda's Kevin Desmond scored 1-3.

Leinster U20HC round 1: Dublin 2-22 Antrim 1-8 

Dublin saw off the dogged resistance of Antrim thanks largely to a superb second-half performance at Darver. 

Going into the half-time break, the Dubs held a four-point lead but they restricted the Saffrons to just four points after the short whistle while the ran riot at the other end.

Dublin had more scoring threats all over the field with corner-forward Luke Murphy top-scoring for the winners with nine points. The half-time introduction of Kevin Desmond gave them more firepower as he finished with 1-3. But for the reflexes of ‘keeper Tiernan Smith, he could easily have had another two goals.

Micheál Murphy excelled on the ’40 for Dublin while Kevin Burke at center-half back was imperious. Once they got to grips with Antrim in the first half, they went through the gears.

The Saffrons were well in the tie at half-time and but for some uncharacteristic misses, they could have been closer than the four-point deficit showed. Niall O’Connor was immense on the edge of their own square while Paul Boyle covered every blade of grass.

Dublin’s opening goal came from a penalty by ‘keeper Eddie Gibbons in the 22nd minute but Antrim replied with a goal of their own from Daire Murphy. The Antrim forward caught the high delivery and got his shot away despite coming under pressure.

Dublin turned the screw in the second half with Desmond’s major the highlight as they ran out comfortable winners with 17 points to spare.

Scorers for Dublin: L Murphy (0-9, 3fs, 1’65); K Desmond (1-3); M Murphy (0-5); E Gibbons (1-0 pen); D Purcell (0-2); M Sweeney, D Power, L McDwyer (0-1 each).

Scorers for Antrim: S Elliott (0-6, 2fs, 1’65); D Murphy (1-0); P Boyle, R McAteer (0-1 each).

DUBLIN: E Gibbons; T Kinnane, A Dunphy, P Dunleavy; E O’Donnell, K Burke, D Leavy; M Sweeney, D Power; D McBride, M Murphy, L McDwyer; D Purcell, B Ryan, L Murphy. 

Subs: K Desmond for B Ryan; I Ó hEither for D Leavy (44), M Conroy for A Dunphy (53). 

ANTRIM: T Smith; R McCollum, N O’Connor, C McKay; C McKernan, D Murphy, D McCloskey; N McCormick, P Boyle; O Donnelly, A McGrath, C McFadden; S Elliott, D McEnhill, A Bradley. 

Subs: R McAteer for O Donnelly (27), R Hill for A Bradley (37), L Donnelly for A McGrath (40), D McKeogh for C McKay (51).