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The Dubs are Kings of Leinster again 🏆👑@DubGAAOfficial 1-19@louthgaa 2-12
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Dublin 1-19
Louth 2-12
TWO GOALS, A lion-heart effort and, for three quarters of the game, genuine hope of a landmark Leinster SFC final win.
That was the story of Louth’s provincial final day at Croke Park which, unfortunately for Ger Brennan’s crew, had a predictable enough ending in the form of a final-quarter surge from Dublin which resulted in a 14th consecutive title for the Sky Blues.
Con O’Callaghan’s 55th-minute goal ultimately broke brave Louth’s resolve in front of 22,113 and the Cuala colossus finished with 1-4, one of nine different Dublin scorers on the day.
Brian Fenton delivered yet again for Dublin too, stroking over three points from midfield and claiming the Man of the Match award.
Dublin led by seven points in stoppage time when Craig Lennon palmed in Louth’s second goal and while it was only consolation at that stage, the four-point end margin better reflected their gargantuan efforts.
Ciaran Keenan scored the first Louth goal while captain Sam Mulroy struck six points on a day when the Wee County contested back-to-back Leinster finals for the first time since 1958.
Louth will head now for Group 4 of the All-Ireland series and will be in a four-team group along with Kerry, Monaghan and Meath. As for Dublin, they will be in Group 2 with Mayo, Roscommon and Cavan.
Having conceded 5-21 to Dublin in each of their last two Championship meetings, Louth made no apologies for setting up in containment mode – and it almost paid off.
It wasn’t particularly enjoyable to watch but it was damn efficient from Louth’s perspective as they got 15 behind the ball virtually immediately.
They declined to contest any of Dublin’s kick-outs, allowing Stephen Cluxton to tap out to a defender while every man in a red jersey dashed back to erect a defensive screen in front of the scoring zone.
Their plan was to put so much pressure on Dublin that the favourites wouldn’t get a sniff of a goal chance and would find it incredibly difficult even to get a shot away for a point.
And it panned out pretty much as Louth had hoped with Dublin, remarkably, only scoring six points in the whole of the first-half.
Cormac Costello had a half chance for a goal but he was slipping as he shot in the 29th minute and his tame effort was straight at goalkeeper Niall McDonnell.
A new ‘keeper for Louth this year, McDonnell was under intense pressure throughout as Dublin pressed up hard on his kick-outs but he coped impressively, save for a second-half slip up for the O’Callaghan goal.
Dublin looked a little rattled initially and there were poor wides from the likes of Paul Mannion, Colm Basquel and O’Callaghan as they snatched at shots towards the Davin End goalposts.
Louth lived off scraps at the other end but were fully committed to their counter-attacking strategy and in Conal McKeever they had a player perfectly suited to the attritional, high work-rate game plan.
His darting runs up the centre of the field, combined with the angled inter-play of the excellent Conor Grimes, Ciaran Downey and Bevan Duffy, caused Dublin a surprising amount of bother.
Grimes, who has had a terrific campaign to date, slotted two first-half points and Downey booted over another.
Mulroy’s third converted free of the half left Louth with an unlikely 0-7 to 0-6 half-time lead.
Three Dublin points at the beginning of the second-half, from Mannion, Costello and Kilkenny, was no great surprise. Dublin led, 0-9 to 0-7, had stabilised and regrouped and would resume the normal service of doling out capital punishment on Leinster final day, right?
Turned out Louth weren’t in any mood to stick to that script and dramatically levelled the game up at 1-8 to 0-11 with a 44th minute goal.
Keenan grabbed it after great work down the left by Lennon whose pass to Mulroy was flicked into Keenan’s path. The Ardee man had worked to do but raced across Cluxton and got his shot away.
The sides would draw level twice more but Louth, crucially, never got in front and O’Callaghan’s 55th minute goal finally put Dublin in the clear.
Jet-heeled Jack McCaffrey, introduced immediately after the Louth goal, along with Paddy Small, intercepted a kick-out and laid it off for O’Callaghan to convert. Small added a point too as the changes paid off.
Dublin stretched the gap out to seven points, 1-19 to 1-12, before Louth got the second goal their efforts deserved. Peter Lynch and the excellent Mulroy combined to play in Lennon for a comfortable palmed finish from close range.
Scorers for Dublin: Con O’Callaghan 1-4 (0-1m), Cormac Costello 0-6 (0-3f), Brian Fenton 0-3, Paul Mannion 0-1, Colm Basquel 0-1, Sean Bugler 0-1, Ciaran Kilkenny 0-1, Tom Lahiff 0-1, Paddy Small 0-1.
Scorers for Louth: Sam Mulroy 0-6 (0-5f), Conor Grimes 0-4, Ciaran Keenan 1-0, Craig Lennon 1-0, Ciaran Downey 0-1, Tommy Durnin 0-1.
Dublin
1. Stephen Cluxton
3. Michael Fitzsimons, 4. Eoin Murchan, 17. Sean Bugler
9. James McCarthy (Captain), 6. John Small, 7. Cian Murphy
5. Tom Lahiff, 8. Brian Fenton
12. Niall Scully, 10. Cormac Costello, 11. Ciaran Kilkenny
13. Paul Mannion, 14. Con O’Callaghan, 15. Colm Basquel
Substitutes:
20. Jack McCaffrey for Scully (49), 26. Paddy Small for Basquel (49), 19. Brian Howard for Lahiff (63), 21. Ross McGarry for Bugler (64), 22. Killian McGinnis for Mannion (71)
Louth
1. Niall McDonnell
4. Peter Lynch, 22. Niall Sharkey, 2. Donal McKenny
3. Dan Corcoran, 6. Anthony Williams, 7. Craig Lennon
8. Tommy Durnin, 9. Bevan Duffy
5. Conal McKeever, 11. Ciaran Keenan, 12. Conor Grimes
23. Leonard Grey, 14. Sam Mulroy (Captain), 15. Ciaran Downey
Substitutes:
20. Dermot Campbell for Sharkey (49), 25. Conor Early for Williams (55), 13. Ryan Burns for Keenan (59), 24. Ciaran Byrne for Durnin (59), 19. Liam Jackson for Grey (65)
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
