U16 footballers face Meath in Gerry Reilly decider

Dublin's under-16 footballers face hosts Meath in Sunday's final of the Gerry Reilly U16 Football Tournament in Oldcastle (7.0).

Both counties recorded impressive Cup semi-final victories with the Dubs edging out Down, 5-8 to 3-13, while Meath defeated Cill Dara 4-17 to 0-15.

Dublin and Down were level at half-time, Dublin 1-3 Down 0-6, with David Keane getting the only goal.

The game exploded into life in the second period and at one stage Dublin led by nine points before the Mourne County replied in style to edge in front.

However, Eoin Wilde, who finished with 3-1, scored a goal on the rebound of a penalty to see Dublin back in front.

Down surged ahead again with a James Duggan point and goal from Zach Murdock before Dublin finished stronger with two late points to win by the minimum with Eoin Wilde hitting the equaliser before Davy Keogh slotted the winner.

“The tournament has been very beneficial for both players and management,” said Dublin U16 manager Ger Lyons.

“With the national competition moved to under-17, this is a great chance for the players to gain valuable experience for next year.

“It gets the team used to training to prepare for a competition, being named or not named on a panel for the game at the weekend, travelling away to opposition venues like Aughrim and Páirc Esler and challenging themselves against other counties in a format close to what they will encounter in 2020.

“As a management team, our goal for the tournament was to ensure that the full panel would get experience and game-time in the competition and after Sunday all available players will have had that chance.

“At the minute, 42 players have been involved over the four games and this is great for us because we are very keen that the ethos of a development squad is central to everything that we do as a management team,” added Ger.

“We are delighted to have another challenge on Sunday but ultimately it is just another game and for us that’s another opportunity for the squad to learn on their development pathway.
“When we come off the field we are more focused on our performance rather than the outcome,” added Lyons.

Earlier in the tournament Dublin received a walkover from Cavan in their scheduled quarter-final.

Dublin progressed to the Cup knockout stages after winning their three games in their group (Group B) defeating Down (3-14 to 3-11), Wicklow and Antrim.

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2019 GERRY REILLY U16 FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

Saturday, 22 June
Group A (Rd.1)
Cavan 6-20 Longford 0-4 (Mullahoran)
Fermanagh 3-9 Leitrim 1-12 (Venue TBC)

Group C (Rd.1)
Meath 4-18 Laois 3-12 (Portarlington)
Monaghan 3-10 Westmeath 2-8 (Cloghan)

Saturday, 29 June
Group A (Rd.2)
Cavan 1-20 Leitrim 2-7 (Cloone)
Louth 4-11 Fermanagh 0-7 (Darver)

Group B (Rd.1)
Wicklow 1-12 Down 0-13 (Sat., 20 July @Abbotstown)
Dublin 4-11 Antrim 2-4 (8 July in Darver)

Group C (Rd.2)
Westmeath 5-14 Laois 3-9 (The Downs)
Cill Dara 6-24 Monaghan 0-6 (Convey GAA, Leixlip)

Group D (Rd.1)
Wexford def. Carlow (Belfield)
Offaly 0-16 Kildare 0-13 (Convey GAA, Leixlip)

Saturday, 6 July
Group A (Rd.3)
Cavan scr Louth wo
Longford 2-14 Leitrim 0-14 (Thursday,18 July in Pearse Park )

Group B (Rd 2)
Down 3-20 Antrim 0-10 (Dunsilly, Antrim)
Dublin 7-18 Wicklow 0-5 (Aughrim)

Group C (Rd.3)
Cill Dara 5-14 Laois 2-8 (Laois C.O.E.)
Meath 7-14 Westmeath 0-8 (Millbrook)

Group D (Rd.2)
Offaly 2-9 Wexford 3-5 (Bord na Mona O’Connor Park)
Kildare 5-18 Carlow 0-11 (Sat., 20 July in Fenagh C.O.E.)

Saturday, 13 July
Group A (Rd.4)
Louth 3-15 Longford 1-5 (Darver)
Cavan 2-15 Fermanagh 1-15 (Kinawley)

Group B (Rd.3)
Antrim 2-8 Wicklow 0-11 (St Patrick’s, Stamullen, Meath)
Dublin 3-14 Down 3-11 (Pairc Esler)

Group C (Rd.4)
Meath 1-13 Cill Dara 0-12 (Hawkfield)
Laois 5-11 Monaghan 3-13 (Cloghan)

Group D (Rd.3)
Offaly 1-12 Carlow 2-5 (Bord na Mona O’Connor Park)
Wexford 1-16 Kildare 1-6 (Ferns)

Saturday, 20 July
Group A (Rd.5)
GAME OFF – Louth rec. a w/o from Leitrim (Millbrook, Oldcastle)
Longford 2-14 Fermanagh 0-11 (Pearse Park, Longford)

Group C (Rd.5)
Cill Dara 3-17 Westmeath 2-9 (The Downs)
Meath rec. a w/o from Monaghan (have withdrawn)

Cup & Shield Quarter Finals- 27/7/19 (Top 2 in each group to Cup, Teams 3 & 4 to Shield.

Winners of the Gerry Reilly Cup to date:
Westmeath 1990, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2010, 2011
Meath 1989, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2018
Cavan 1997, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016
Dublin 1993, 1998, 2008 (U-17 Blitz), 2012, 2013
Monaghan 2017

Winners of the Gerry Reilly Plate to date:
Meath 2013, 2015, 2016
Dublin 2017
Louth 2018
Wicklow 2014

Winners of the Gerry Reilly Shield to date:
Louth 2016, 2017
Meath 2014
Monaghan 2015
Westmeath 2013