Disappointment despite 25-point victory for minor footballers

Tue, 3rd July 2018

DUBLIN 5-19 WESTMEATH 0-9

Dublin minor footballers outclassed Westmeath in Tuesday night's Leinster MFC Group 1 clash at Cusack Park, Mullingar but fell short on reaching the provincial semi-final.

Wicklow's victory over Meath, who made 12 changes to their starting team from their last clash as they had already secured top spot in the round-robin section, means the Garden County, victors last week over Dublin in Parnell Park, take second spot and book a semi-final berth against Kilda

Meath, Kildare, Wicklow and Laois will contest this weekend’s Leinster MFC (U17) semi-finals while the Dubs will have to be content with a Shield semi-final berth alongside Wexford, Louth and Longford.

Dublin travel to Innovate Wexford Park this Saturday to face the Slaneysiders (1.0).

Dublin made an electric start against hosts Westmeath with goals from Luke Swan and Seán Guiden inside the opening minute.

A Mark Lavin point had Dublin 2-1 to 0-0 to the good inside two minutes.

However, the home side settled with points from Shane Fleming and Adam Cronin while the free-taking of Jordan McDonnell further reduced the deficit.

But five minutes before the interval dual ace Swan struck for his second goal, he also scored 3-1 last Saturday in Dublin's dramatic Leinster MHC final victory over Kilkenny, and a Seán Foran goal in first-half added time made it 4-9 to 0-5 at the break.

Nine minutes into the second-half sub Robbie Bolger palmed the ball to make it 5-11 to 0-5.

SCORERS - Dublin: S Guiden 1-5 (0-4f), L Swan 2-1, M Lavin 0-5 (0-4f), R Bolger 1-2, S Foran 1-0, L Dunne, C Murray, A Rafter, C McManus, L McGovern, D Smith 0-1 each. Westmeath: J McDonnell 0-3 (0-3f), S Fleming 0-2, L Moran, E McCabe, A Cronin, E Gaffney (0-1f) 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Bohan; C O’Brien, A Fearon, A Rafter; C McManus, E Cashman, M Lavin; A Watson, E Adamson; L Dunne, C Murray, D Smith; S Guiden, L Swan, S Foran. Subs: R Bolger for Swan (ht), M O’Leary for Dunne (ht), L McGovern for Murray (ht), C Hennessy for Adamson (41), E Farquharson for Lavin (53), R Dwyer for Smith (inj., 54).

WESTMEATH: C McCourt; C Drumm, C Daly, S Murtagh; J Gahan, C Gibney, D Seery; J Coffey, A Cronin; J McDonnell, K O’Sullivan, S Fleming; C Cleary, B McGauran, E Gaffney. Subs: L Moran for Coffey (ht), W Smith for Murtagh (ht), D Keegan for Gahan (ht), E McCabe for Cleary (43), T Keena for McGauran (46) , O Raleigh for McDonnell (46).

REF: F Pierce (Offaly).

LEINSTER MFC: Offaly 1-11 Louth 2-12; Wicklow 1-10 Meath 1-8; Westmeath 0-9 Dublin 5-19; Wexford 1-11 Carlow 1-10; Longford 0-12 Kildare 1-18.