U20 Footballers overcome Westmeath in Leinster Championship opening round tie

DUBLIN 1-15 

WESTMEATH 0-6

Dublin made a winning start to their Eirgrid Leinster Under 20 Football Championship campaign when overcoming Westmeath by twelve points in their Group 3 encounter in Kinnegad on Tuesday evening.

A bright start proved key for Dublin as they raced into an early five-point lead with a well-worked move rewarded with a Karl Flynn goal in the 22^nd minute.

Leading by 1-9 to 0-2 at the break, Dublin resumed in a similarly dominant manner and while their scoring dried up in the final quarter, they had done more than enough to prevail, despite the 48^th minute dismissal of Jamie Smith.

That lively opening manifested itself in early scores from Flynn and Mark McNally and their early dominance continued as Clyde Burke popped up for the first of his three points.

The hosts enjoyed a brief period of pressure but failed to translate that into scores while an excellent Dublin counter-attack in the 13^th minute saw Luke O’Boyle clip over a fine score.

A Paul Reynolds Hand point two minutes later completed an encouraging opening quarter for the visitors prior to Westmeath finally opening their own account thanks to Brian Cooney’s 18^th minute free.

Terence O’Donovan doubled the home tally in the 20^th minute but these scores proved a brief stay of execution as Dublin regrouped to finish the half on a high.

Jamie McCarville pointed in the 22^nd minute and from the sloppy resultant kick-out, Dublin moved the ball swiftly before finding Flynn for a composed finish beyond Senan O’Driscoll in the Westmeath goal.

Flynn added a point soon after and the half finished as it had begun as Dan Murphy and Burke tagged on points to leave the Dubs ten points to the good by the interval.

The visitors wasted little time in building their advantage as Reynolds Hand (free) and McNally pointed two minutes of the restart with Cooney converting his second free at the opposite end.

Normal service was resumed as McCarville and Burke gained tangible reward for their efforts with smart scores but Dublin’s fluency proved elusive from that point as they seemed content to retain possession without committing too many bodies forward.

This allowed Westmeath to enjoy greater degrees of possession and territory and they managed to add points through Rory Cole and Eoin Bracken in the final quarter.

They could well have added a goal in added time but David Leonard made a superb diving save to deny a cracking attempt by Shane Corcoran as the Dubs held on without further alarm.

Scorers – Dublin: K Flynn 1-2, P Reynolds Hand(2f), C Burke, J McCarville 0-3 each, M McNally 0-2, L O’Boyle, D Murphy 0-1 apiece. Westmeath: B Cooney 0-2 (2f), T O’Donovan, R Cole, E Bracken, S Ormsby 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: D Leonard; S Kirwan, F Bruton, E Nugent; J Smith, G McEneaney, M Gardiner; C McMorrow, D Murphy; L O’Boyle, P Reynolds Hand, C Burke; M McNally, J McCarville, K Flynn. Subs: R Fahey for McNally (42), P Kelly for McEneaney (42), J Brady for Flynn (50), S Ryan for O’Boyle (53), O Donohoe for Kirwan (60).

Westmeath: S O’Driscoll; A Keane, C Monaghan, S Bracken; L Daly, J Macken, D Lowry; J Duncan, S Ormsby; T O’Donovan, B Cooney, E Bracken; R Murray, S Hanley, S Corcoran. Subs: R Cole for O’Donovan (half-time), M Thornton for Murray (40), D Franzoni for E Bracken (56).

Referee: Kevin Williamson (Offaly).