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U20 All Ireland Championship Rd 5
Meath 1-08 Dublin 1-08
Dublin and Meath played out a spirited draw on Saturday afternoon at Bective GFC just outside Navan. A blustering wind played havoc with the flow of the game as both teams endeavoured to deal with the whirling conditions.
Despite playing into the wind it was the visitors who began the contest sprightly. Lucy Ahern and Ciara Brogan got the Dubs on the scoreboard early with two expertly converted free kicks. Meath responded soon after with a Shauna Fox goal. Meath followed up their goal with three unanswered points before Dublin half back Ella O’Dell tapped over a well taken point from play.
Meath with the aid of the strong breeze continued to excerpt their dominance converting three frees in a row to extend their lead by six points before a Ciara Brogan free reduced the half time deficit to five. HT Meath 1-06 (9) Dublin 0-04 (4).
Dublin now playing with the wind got the perfect restart. Lucy Ahern found the back of the Meath net following a series of well worked passes which had begun when Ciara Sheedy won the ball at midfield. The Meath lead was now down to two points. An Ahern point and two scores from Ciara Brogan gave Dublin a one-point lead with thirteen minutes gone on the clock.
Dubin received a hammer blow when a yellow card was awarded to Dublin’s Rebecca Gaughan for a miss timed challenge on Meath’s Orlaith Reilly resulting in the visitors playing out the next ten minutes with fourteen players. The contest had become feisty at this stage with every ball being keenly challenged by both sides and supporters getting animated on the sideline.
Meath hit the equalising point in the forty seventh minute which lead to a nervous conclusion to the closing stages of this compelling encounter. As the game ebbed towards full time Ciara Brogan landed her third free kick of the game to push Dublin ahead but Meath playing with the advantage of an extra player managed to kick the equalising point late into injury time to earn a draw for the Royals and in doing so deny Dublin a place in the All-Ireland final vs Donegal. The Ulster champions will now play Galway in the decider on July 11th next.
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