News

Dublin u21's reach All Ireland Final

November 8, 2018

Ryan on the double as U21s progress to All-Ireland final

21 Apr 2012 | hill16.ie

DUBLIN 3-11 CORK 0-14

Dublin booked their spot in the Cadbury All-Ireland U21FC final in impressive style when defeating Cork in Saturday afternoon’s semi-final at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

Philly Ryan was the scorer-in-chief for the Dubs as his two first half goals paved the way for victory and a meeting with Roscommon (victors over Cavan) in two weeks’ time.

However, Dublin did not make the most electric of starts as they trailed 0-1 to 0-5 inside 12 minutes before points from Gary Sweeney and Danny Byrne inject greater life into their play.

Ryan’s first goal came from the penalty spot in the 15th minute and eight minutes from time Sweeney, Byrne and Ryan combined to telling effect for the St Brigid’s man to raise his second green flag as Dublin entered the break 2-5 to 0-7 to the good.

Two minutes into the second half a very economical Dublin side struck for their third goal when the pacey Jack McCaffrey showed his instinct for moving forward from wing-back at the right time as he cooly slotted home past Sean Mellet from close range following unselfish play from Sweeney and Ryan to leave the Rebels seven points in arrears (3-5 to 0-7).

By the 41st minute points from Paul Hudson and Ciaran Kilkenny had Dublin further in front with the likes of Ciaran Reddin contributing handsomely to the team effort.

Cork did enjoy periods of pressure but on every occasion the Dublin defence dealt very capably with the threat and successfully counter-attacked to maintain their lead until the conclusion.

SCORERS – Dublin: P Ryan 2-3 (1-0 pen, 0-1 ‘45’), J McCaffrey 1-0, P Hudson, E O Conghaile 0-2 each, D Byrne, G Sweeney, C Kilkenny, P Maguire 0-1 each.  Cork: B Hurley 0-5 (0-4f), K Hallissey (0-2f), J O’Rourke, L Connolly (0-1 ‘45’) 0-2 each, D Og Hodnett, M Sugrue, D McEoin (0-1f) 0-1 each.
DUBLIN – JB Carthy; K O’Brien, S George, M Concarr; L Fletcher, J Kelly, J McCaffrey; E Ó Conghaile, C Reddin; M Schutte, D Byrne, G Sweeney; P Hudson, P Ryan, C Kilkenny. Subs: P Maguire for Byrne (37 mins), G Seaver for Schutte (45), P O’Higgins for Reddin (46), H Dawson for Hudson (55), E Keogh for Sweeney (56).
CORK – S Mellet; A Cronin, D Cahalane, D O’Donovan; J Wall, T Clancy, J Cronin; R Deane, E Healy; K Hallissey, M Sugrue, J O’Rourke; L Connolly, B Hurley, D Óg Hodnett. Subs: D McEoin for Hallissey (ht), C O’Sullivan for Wall (40), B O’Driscoll for Healy (51), A Cadogan for Sugrue (55).
REF – M Higgins (Fermanagh).