Dessie praises “character” of U21 footballers

Sat, 4th April 2015

Dublin U21 football manager, Dessie Farrell, has paid tribute to the "character" shown by his team in Thursday night's EirGrid Leinster U21FC Final victory over Kildare.

The concession of a late, late first half goal provided the Lilywhites with the momentum to gain the upperhand on the second half restart as they stormed into a lead heading into the last quarter,

However, they young Dubs showed great maturity in the closing stages to earn victory.

“Just very relieved now to get over it,” said Dessie. “You’d be happy with a lot of it, and then disappointed with some of it. It’s a mixed bag - but a cracking game.

“It looked to be slipping away from us at one stage, and we showed some backbone and character in the end.”

Dublin now face the Munster champions, either Cork or Tipperary, in their All-Ireland U21FC semi-final on Saturday, April 18.

ROLL OF HONOUR: Leinster U21FC

	County Wins	Years won
1	Dublin	12	1974, 1975, 1980, 1984, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015
2	Kildare	10	1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1976, 1983, 1992, 2004, 2008, 2013
3	Laois	8	1964, 1969, 1982, 1987, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2007
	Meath	8	1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2001
	Offaly	8	1968, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1995
6	Louth	3	1970, 1978, 1981
7	Westmeath	2	1999, 2000
8	Wexford	1	2011