First blow to Louth as Wee County secure first U20 Leinster title since 1981

LONG TIME COMING: Louth celebrate with the trophy. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Leinster U-20 FC final: Louth 2-19 Meath 1-15 

The first-half of a landmark Leinster football championship double for success-starved Louth?

Wee County supporters will certainly hope so after watching their U20s produce a burst of third-quarter scoring in Newbridge to secure a first provincial win at the grade since 1981.

Beating Meath in Newbridge also amounted to sweet revenge after last year's defeat to their neighbours.

Fergal Reel's Louth side were a cut above this time with a brilliant team performance that the holders had no answer to.

First-half goals from senior panellist Pearse Grimes Murphy and Adam Gillespie were important, leaving Louth three clear at half-time.

But it was the eight points that Louth reeled off without response in the third quarter to go 10 points clear at that stage that set the seal on a truly memorable win.

Gillespie and Grimes Murphy finished with 1-3 each while Tony and Tadhg McDonnell slotted some super scores after the break.

Meath threw the kitchen sink at it late on, chasing two-pointers and goals, but blasted 10 second-half wides in all as Louth forced them into error after error.

Louth’s James Maguire celebrates at the final whistle. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Louth will face freshly minted Connacht champions Mayo in an All-Ireland semi-final in mid-May.

They will also hope that having ended one provincial hoodoo at Meath's expense, they can do the same on Sunday week when the seniors also take on the Royals at Croke Park.

The fact that both teams were even in this U-20 final marked significant progress.

Both counties lost all of their games at the minor grade three years ago, exiting at the earliest possible stage.

They've made giant strides since and holders Meath returned to the U-20 final with three starters from last year's U-20 final win; AFL-bound Eamonn Armstrong, full-forward Jamie Murphy and Rian Stafford.

The trio contributed 0-7 between them in a terrific first-half that Louth edged by 2-8 to 1-8.

Louth retained seven starters in their team from last year's final at Parnell Park; captain Sean Callaghan, James Maguire, Cormac McKeown, Tadhg McDonnell, Keelin Martin, Grimes Murphy and Darragh Dorian.

Tadhg McDonnell, Callaghan and Grimes Murphy are all senior panellists and their quality shone through.

Grimes Murphy struck 1-3 of Louth's first-half tally, opening the scoring for his team with a two-pointer.

His goal just before half-time was a real boost and separated the sides at the break. Dorian set him free with a hand-pass over the top on the left of goals and Grimes Murphy rocketed a shot beyond goalkeeper Matthew Kealy.

Gillespie struck Louth's earlier goal, capitalising on the surprising amount of time he was afforded with a blistering left-footed finish.

Meath did lead for spells in a back-and-forth first first-half with Tadhg Martyn netting in the final for the second-half in a row in the 10th minute.

It was still anyone's game but Louth took a giant step towards victory with that eight-point burst between the 34th and 42nd minutes.

The first two points in the blitz came from sweeping moves up the pitch after Meath had butchered scoring chances at the other end.

It was clinical stuff from Louth who didn't waste a ball and Tadhg McDonnell rounded off the siege with a 42nd-minute two-pointer, leaving them 2-16 to 1-9 clear.

Meath tried their best to reel in the 10-point deficit but not even a couple of two-pointers from Michael McIvor made much difference.

Tony and Tadhg McDonnell kept Louth ticking over with timely points and finished with 0-8 split evenly between them.

Louth scorers: P Grimes Murphy (1tp) & A Gillespie (1 free) 1-3 each; Tony McDonnell (1 free) & Tadhg McDonnell (1 tp) 0-4 each; D Dorian 0-2; S Lennon, T Markey (1 45), & J Maguire 0-1 each.

Meath scorers: J Murphy 0-6 (1 tp, 2f); M McIvor 0-4 (2 tp); T Martyn 1-0; E Armstrong 0-2; R Stafford, Z Thornton, F White 0-1 each.

Louth: T Markey; P Tinnelly, K Martin, M Reid; Tadhg McDonnell, C McKeown, C McGinty; S Callaghan, J Maguire; S Lennon, C MacCriosta, P Grimes Murphy; A Gillespie, Tony McDonnell, D Dorian.

Subs: D Shevlin for MacCriosta (53).

Meath: Kealy; S Jordan, R Early, C O'Hare; E Armstrong, F Hartigan, F White; J Harkin, M McIvor; R Stafford, T Martyn, Z Thornton; L Jennings, J Murphy, B Corkery.

Subs: M O'Sullivan for Corkery & C Yore for Hartigan (43); P Crawley for Corkery & S Betson for Thornton (49); C O'Brien for Betson (58).

Referee: I Howley (Dublin).