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Image courtesy Matthew Burke
DUBLIN 2-20
WESTMEATH 3-9
Dublin produced a dominant second-half display when getting the better of Westmeath by eight points in Round 3 of the Dalata Leinster Under 20 Football Championship at Parnell Park on Wednesday night.
Dublin trailed by 2-6 to 2-4 at the half-time with a brace of goals from Paddy Kelly more than cancelled out by goals at the opposite end from Westmeath’s Ryan Kelly and Kealan Connell.
A dominance at midfield allowed Dublin to seize control of events upon the resumption with seven Joe Quigley points seeing them pull away by the end.
Despite opening the scoring through an excellent two-pointed score from Paul Reynolds Hand in the 2nd minute, the hosts failed to spark in attack in the early stages.
Westmeath forced a number of turnovers during this period and after intercepting an Aaron Lee kickout in the 6th minute, Shane Corcoran was bundled to the ground by Darragh Murphy, allowing Ryan Kelly the chance to bury the resultant penalty beyond Lee.
Kelly and Finn Duffy (free) added to the away tally soon after and with Dublin in need of some inspiration, Paddy Kelly provided it in the 12th minute with a run from deep and he calmly shimmied past Eoin Doran before firing into the empty net.
The Skerries Harps attacker edged Dublin ahead in an instant but parity was restored by the end of the first quarter as Westmeath full-back Adam Keane kicked an inspirational score into the scoreboard end.
While Clyde Burke restored the home lead after a marauding run down the right flank, that wing was exposed by Westmeath captain Tadhg Baker in the 18th minute as his strong run allowed Connell the simplest of tasks of palming into the empty net.
It only took the Dubs three minutes to reply in kind as Paddy Kelly showed great strength and confidence to shrug off a challenge and finish impeccably beyond the helpless Doran from ten yards.
Far from building on that goal, the hosts conceded the next three scores with a brace of Duffy frees and a point from play by Ryan Kelly leaving Dublin facing a two-point interval deficit.
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