Meath 1-13
Louth 0-10
AT THE SECOND time of asking, the Meath U21 footballers saw off Louth in the Leinster championship in Navan tonight.
The teams had finished all square last week in Dundalk after extra-time but the Royals won out on home soil tonight to set up a semi-final clash next Wednesday night with Offaly.
Senior forward Eamon Wallace departed the action early on through injury but his brother Joey bagged the only goal of the game in the first-half and helped Meath cope.
Meath led 1-4 to 0-4 at the interval while the point-taking of Bryan McMahon and Seamus Mattimoe, who came on for the injured Wallace, was also crucial to their victory. That pair registered 0-11 between them on the night.
Louth tried hard with Ryan Burns, who struck 2-6 last week, again impressive in front of goal as he bagged 0-6 while Conor Grimes chipped in with 0-3.
But Meath did the business, finishing strongly to claim the honours.
Scorers for Meath: Bryan McMahon 0-6 (0-4f), Seamus Mattimoe 0-5 (0-2f), Joey Wallace 1-0, Neil Shortall, Barry Dardis 0-1 each.Scorers for Louth: Ryan Burns 0-6 (0-4f), Conor Grimes 0-3, Craig Doyle 0-1.
MEATH: A Colgan; S Carty, C McGill, D McQuillan; B Power (C Finn 51), S Melia, S McEntee; C Sheridan (H Rooney 42), A Flanagan; N Shortall, B O’Brien, P Harnan; J Wallace (B Dardis 59), B McMahon, E Wallace (S Mattimoe 10)
LOUTH: N Cooney; K Lenaghan, D Campbell, E Lafferty; D McMahon, P Reilly, S Thornton (R Curran 18); R Brodigan (C Ward 43), W Campbell; R Quigley, J Stewart, C McKeever (R Carr 49); C Doyle (K Hearty 60), C Grimes, R Burns.