Leinster Football Result 2021- Dublin struggle past Meath

Leinster football semi-final Result- Dublin struggled past Meath in Croke Park to reach the final against Kildare

Going into injury time Dublin had only scored 2pts in the second half, its worrying times for Dessie Farrell as he will face Kerry or Cork in an All-Ireland semi-final if he gets past Kildare in the Leinster final

Dessie Farrell’s post match interview below

Score commentary

• 75′

  Result – Dublin 2-16 Meath 1-13

   
• 75′
  

  Kilkenny hits the third injury time point for Dublin

   
• 75′
  

  Cormac Costello puts Dublin 5pts up

   
• 72′
  

  Brian Fenton kicks Dublin 4pts up

   
• 70′

  Three points in it, Dublin have only scored 2pts in the second half. Five min injury time

   
• 68′
  

  A point from a free by Thomas O\’Reilly

   
• 68′
  

  Meath score the 45, only 4pts in it

   
• 66′

  Good save by Comerford from Jones

   
• 65′

  Jordan Morris

   
• 62′

  No score since the water break

   
• 55′

  Dublin by 5pts with 15min to play

   
• 52′

  Dublin 2-13 Meath 1-11 at water break

   
• 49′
  

  Joey Wallace and Jordan Morris points get Meath back to within 4pts, they lead the second half by 7pts

   
• 43′
  

  A point from play by Jordan Morris, 6 in it

   
• 41′

  A point from play by Joey Wallace, Meath back to within 7pts

   
• 37′
  

  Mathew Costello GOAL for Meath

   
• 0′

  Second half start at 5:28pm

   
• 35′
  

  Dean Rock point – Half time – Dublin 2-11 Meath 0-06

   
• 35′
  

  Costello with a nice point for Meath

   
• 34′

  Jordan Morris free goes to hawk eye but its a wide

   
• 32′
  

  Wallace with the first score of 2nd quarter

   
• 31′
  

  Con O’Callaghan with another score

   
• 31′
  

  Con O’Callaghan with a lovely score

   
• 26′
  

  Another Kilkenny point, its Dublin 2-08 Meath 0-04

   
• 22′
  

  Con O’Callaghan GOAL

   
• 21′
  

  Ciaran Kilkenny point

   
• 21′
  

  Paddy Small point

   
• 18′
  

  Point from play by Jordan Morris, Meath trail 1-04 to 0-04 at the first water break

   
• 16′
  

  A point from a free by Mathew Costello

   
• 13′
  

  Dublin Penalty – Cormac Costello scores it

   
• 10′
  

  Cormac Costello and Bryan McMahon trade scores

   
• 8′
  

  Ciaran Kilkenny point after a good goal chance

   
• 5′
  

  Meath point

   
• 5′
  

  Dean Rock doubles the lead

   
• 2′
  

  Con O’Callaghan opens the scoring

   
• 3′

  Meath 45′ kicked wide

   
• 2′

  Cormac Costello shot drops short

   
• 2′

  First wide from Tom Lahiff

   
• Meath have made three changes Harry Hogan replaces Andy Colgan in goals, Conor McGill comes in at full-back for Ronan Ryan, Eamon Wallace is named at wing-forward in place of Ethan Devine.

All-Ireland champions Dublin will go head to head with Leinster rivals Meath at Croke Park this coming Sunday at 4:30 pm as the second part of a doubleheader in the last of the  Leinster Senior Football Championship semi-finals.

The Dubs shared the title of the league champions with All-Ireland rivals, Kerry, during their league campaign.

Remaining undefeated in all three of the league games, they have not looked their best, but that is expected, even from Dublin.

With numerous retirements from past winners and a couple more on the horizon, this Dublin side is in a transition period from the glory-laden Jim Gavin era.

The Dubs looked less than impressive against Wexford in the quarter-final. Winning by a small margin of 8 points, impressive for Wexford to have kept the score down so low and to not concede a goal.

For Dublin, it will simply be put down to not leaving first gear.

They are still the team to beat and will go on to lift a historic seven-in-a-row later in August.

Meath is their great rivals from the past, not being crowned Leinster champions since 2010, and losing five finals since then, all to Dublin.

The Royal County had a decent league campaign, finishing second only behind a vibrant Mayo side, beating Down and Westmeath in the process.

Losing out on their promotion hopes up to Division 1 with a 3-point losing effort to fellow Leinster semi-finalists Kildare in June.

Beating Longford by a massive 22 point to reach the semi’s, Meath have been the form team this season so far.

They come into this game with a monkey on their back, questions of can they beat Dublin will be put to this squad until they do pull off an upset win.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Not much can be said about Dublin that has not been said already, boasting high-quality talent in all positions, they can beat you from anywhere.

The only weakness you could accuse the Dubs of is the reports of Stephen Cluxton’s future and how that will affect them.

Their opponents have a good team, but mentally how will they respond when Dublin get a goal and start to pull away from them.

If last year’s Leinster final was anything to go by, Meath will fall away and cave to the Dublin storm.

Conclusion

A repeat of last years All-Ireland final is on the cards, picking Meath to pull off a stunning upset is more of hope rather than reality.

If the Dubs come out and play like they usually do, then Meath will want the game to end as soon as possible.

However, I do believe that Meath will do much better than last year.

Prediction: Dublin by 13 points

Starting teams

Dublin : Evan Comerford; Michael Fitzsimons, David Byrne, Philly McMahon; Tom Lahiff, Brian Howard, Sean McMahon; Brian Fenton, James McCarthy; Colm Basquel, Ciaran Kilkenny, Niall Scully; Paddy Small, Con O’Callaghan, Cormac Costello.

Meath : Andrew Colgan; Seamus Lavin, Ronan Ryan, Donal Keogan; Cathal Hickey, Shane McEntee (captain), Fionn Reilly; Bryan Menton, Padraig Harnan; Ethan Devine, Bryan McMahon, Mathew Costello; Jordan Morris, Cillian O’Sullivan, Joey Wallace.

Subs: Harry Hogan, Conor McGill, Eoin Harkin, James McEntee, Brían Conlon, Ronan Jones, Eamon Wallace, Michael Newman, Thomas O’Reilly, James Conlon and Danny Dixon.

Betting

Dublin: 1/50

Meath: 16/1

Draw: 33/1

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