Dublin 1-15

Meath 1-13

BATTLING DUBLIN STOLE victory in injury-time for the second weekend running in the Bord Na Mona O’Byrne Cup to secure their final place.

A brace of 73rd minute points in Navan from sub Philly Ryan and Eoghan O’Gara secured victory at the end of a thrilling finale.

The Leinster champions similarly swooped for an injury-time winner last weekend against Laois in Portarlington.

Leading by nine points with a little over 20 minutes to go, Dublin appeared all set to inflict more capital punishment on Meath.

Jim Gavin’s side beat the Royal County in each of the last three Leinster finals and by 16 points in last July’s decider.

But just as another Royal County rout loomed in front of 7,500, the hosts finally came good in the semi-final tie.

They outscored Dublin by 1-8 to 0-4 in the final 23 minutes to at least sign off on their pre-season exertions on a positive note.

Sub Mickey Newman shot 1-1 for Meath while Andy Tormey also had a big impact when he came on.

Back to back placed ball conversions from Meath goalkeeper Paddy O’Rourke tied it up at 1-13 apiece in the 71st minute.

But Dublin finished strongest with those scores from Ryan and O’Gara, who blasted 1-2 overall, securing a final clash with holders Kildare.

Dublin would have kicked themselves for losing. They led 0-9 to 0-5 at half-time and were also denied three goal chances.

They finally hit the net in the 43rd minute when O’Gara outfield Conor McGill to Tomas Brady’s long ball in and netted.

That put Dublin 1-11 to 0-5 clear and, apparently, in the clear. But Meath took over for the final third of the game and the addition of key players from the bench gave them fresh impetus.

Scorers for Dublin: Dean Rock 0-8 (0-4f, 0-1 45), Eoghan O’Gara 1-2, Shane Carthy 0-2, Emmet O Conghaile, Kevin McManamon and Philly Ryan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Meath: Mickey Newman 1-1, Sean Tobin (0-3f) and Paddy O’Rourke (0-2 45, 0-1f) 0-3 each, Bryan Menton and Graham Reilly 0-2 each, Jamie Queeney and Mickey Burke 0-1 each.

DUBLIN

1. Lorcan Molloy

2. Eoin Culligan
3. Rory O’Carroll
7. Jonny Cooper

5. Nicky Devereux
6. John Small
4. Darren Daly

12. Shane Carthy
8. Denis Bastick

10. Tomas Brady
11. Dean Rock
9. Emmet O Conghaile

13. Kevin McManamon
14. Eoghan O’Gara
15. Cormac Costello

Subs
18. M Fitzsimons for Daly (h/t)
21. Michael Darragh Maculey for Bastick (h/t)
22. Jack McCaffrey for Carthy (42)
25. Philly Ryan for Costello (46)
20. Stuart Lowndes for Brady (49)

MEATH

1. Paddy O’Rourke

4. Davy Dalton
3. Conor McGill
2. Donncha Tobin

5. Nicky Judge
6. Donal Keogan
7. Bryan Menton

8. Harry Rooney
9. Adam Flanagan

12. Joey Wallace
11. Stephen Bray
10. Graham Reilly

13. Sean Tobin
14. Jamie Queeney
15. Ruairi O’Dowd

Subs
18. Mickey Burke for Dalton (13)
17. Andy Tormey for O’Dowd (h/t)
19. Ciaran McConnell for Judge (h/t)
25. Mickey Newman for Queeney (53)
20. Damien Carroll for Tobin (57)
21. David Bray for Stephen Bray (65)

Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).

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