The EirGrid U21 Championship kicked into gear last night with three of the Leinster quarter finals taking place. There were wins for Dublin, Longford and Meath and if you didn't get a chance to check out the action, then here's what you missed.
This evening, Kildare slaughtered Offaly 3-12 to 0-9 in Portlaoise. They now meet Meath in the Leinster semi-final on 18 March.
Dublin 2-21
Laois 2-10
Dublin opened their defence of the EirGrid Leinster U21 Championship with a routine win over a Laois side that, at one point, looked like causing an upset in Portlaoise.
Dublin led by seven points during the first half but Laois rallied well and a goal apiece from Alan Farrell and Tom Sheil saw the sides go in at 1-11 to 2-5 at the break. Four quick points after the restart then had Laois in front.
However, that was as good as it got, because after the 35th minute, Dublin raised their game and sent over 8 unanswered points to put them well and truly in control of the game. The game petered out in that fashion with Dublin in control and Shane Carty added the gloss with a goal in stoppage time to give Dublin an 11 point win and set up a semi-final with Longford.
Dublin: C McHugh 0-6 (0-1f), K O'Gara 1-3, N Scully 0-4 (0-2f), S Carthy 1-1, M Deegan, C Basquel 0-2 each, E Lowndes, E Murchan, N Walsh 0-1 each
Laois: T Sheil 1-3 (0-3f), A Farrell 1-0, E O'Carroll 0-3, P Kingston 0-2, E Keane, D O'Reilly 0-1 each
Longford 1-17
Louth 1-4
After dispatching Wexford in the first round of the EirGrid Leinster U21 Championship, Longford continued their solid form with a comprehensive win over Louth in Newtowncashel.
Longford started brightly and they continued in that manner during a low scoring first half. The teams went in 0-8 to 0-2 at the break and it looked like Longford would canter to a win but a Conor Grimes goal early in the second half gave Louth hope. However, that was soon extinguished when Longford opened up a healthy lead. Liam Connerton's goal ten minutes from time eventually saw Longford run out 13 point winners.
Longford : Liam Connerton 1-4, Larry Moran 0-6, Shane Kenny 0-2 (0-2f), Patrick Kiernan, Liam Sullivan, Andrew Dalton, Rory Connor, David McGivney 0-1 each
Louth : Ryan Burns 0-4 (0-3f), Conor Grimes 1-0
Meath 1-10
Westmeath 1-8
Meath edged out Westmeath in a narrow EirGrid Leinster U21 Championship quarter final clash in Navan. The return to action of Eamon Wallace will have pleased the Meath fans in attendance and the speedy forward grabbed 1-2 after a lengthy lay-off with a cruciate ligament injury.
That goal midway through the first half proved to be decisive with neither side nearly able to take control of the game until the death. A penalty from Ray Connellan put Westmeath in front at the break, 1-5 to 1-4.
Ruairi O Coileain was Meath's saviour in the second half with five points putting the Royals in the driving seat. Westmeath brought it nack to within one but a late score from Oisin Reilly ensured Meath go through to the semi-final to face either Offaly or Kildare.
Meath: Ruairi O Coileain 0-7 (0-5f), Eamon Wallace 1-2, Oisin Reilly 0-1
Westmeath: Ray Connellan 1-3 (1-0 pen), Shane Dempsey 0-4, Michael Monahan 0-1
