Dublin’s Minor side now face tough challenge to qualify for Leinster knockout stage after Wicklow defeat
Dublin 0-08
Wicklow 2-06
The men from the Garden County came to Parnell Park tonight and dealt a heavy blow to Dublin’s chances of reaching the Semi Finals of this year’s Leinster Minor Football Championship. Goals from Kevin Quinn and Eoin Darcy saw Dublin trailing at half time 2-04 to 0-04 leaving them with a mountain to climb.
Wicklow’s win sees them catapult over both Offaly and Dublin into second place behind table toppers Meath, meaning Dublin will need to beat Westmeath and Louth must beat Offaly for Dublin to get out as runners up on Group 1.
Meath, who have now booked their berth in the Leinster semi-finals and are guaranteed top spot, lead the group with four wins out of four, following their one-point victory over Offaly tonight.
Wicklow got off to a much better start than Dublin tonight with scores from Matthew Ging and Seán Doody. The 11th minute goal from Quinn put them 1-02 to 0-01 with Mark Lavin getting a score on the board for Dublin.
Lavin scored a second, along with Liam McGovern and Matthew Dunne to put Dublin back in touching distance but in the 27th minute Eoin Darcy hit the net for Wicklow to close the half in their favour.
Dubs shut out again in second half
With a very slight wind advantage, Dublin came out stronger for the second session and certainly dominated possession, but with Wicklow using a sweeper there was always a real threat of a counter attack. And by winning a lot of midfield ball Wicklow managed to hold Dublin again to only four scores, it was too much of a deficit to claw back. Enda Cashman opened Dublin’s second half on 10 minutes with a score but it would be another 21 minutes before Robbie Bolger scored Dublin’s second of the half and into additional time.
Conor Murray added another score minutes later but Jack Foran scored Wicklow’s last to put them 0-05 in front with the clock ticking. A late Sean Guiden attempt hit the upright, summarising Dublin’s luck tonight, but Enda Cashman’s got the final score to at least make the defeat respectable.
Full time in Parnell Park, Dublin 0-08 Wicklow 2-06
Dublin will play their final Leinster round game against Westmeath next Tuesday, July 3rd at 7:00pm in Cusack Park, Mullingar.
Scorers:
Dublin: M Lavin, E Cashman 0-2 each; M Dunne, L McGovern, C Murray, R Bolger 0-1 each.
Wicklow: M Ging 0-4 (2f), K Quinn, E Darcy 1-0 each; S Doody, J Fleming Foran 0-1 each.
Dublin – S Bohan; E Farquharson, A Fearon, A Rafter; M O’Leary, E Cashman, M Lavin; S Foran, E Adamson; C Hennessy, M Dunne, L McGovern; S Guiden, L Swan, D Smith. Subs: D McLoughney for McGovern (h-t), C McManus for Dunne (h-t), C Murray for Hennessy (h-t), R Bolger for Smith (40), M Grogan for Farquharson (44), L Dunne for Grogan (53, BC).
Wicklow – B Fennell; F O’Carroll, S Kearney, T Moran; K Quinn, O Cullen, G Fogarty; E Byrne, S Doody; A Barrett, C Maguire, J Keogh; M Ging, E Darcy, A Foley. Subs: C McDonald for Barrett (49), C Grimes for Byrne (52), J Fleming Foran for Ging (58), S Cranley for Doody (62).
