Louth and Meath set up Leinster U20 Football Championship final rematch

Irish Daily Mirror

22-04-2025

Louth and Meath will face off in the final of the Leinster U20 Football Championship in a rematch of last year's finale.
The Wee county picked up a fabulous win over Dublin at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence in Darver on a wet, wild and miserable Tuesday evening to book their place in the final, while Meath cruised past Kildare in similarly poor conditions in Ashbourne.
After a three week break thanks to a by into the semi-final, there were fears that Louth could have been undercooked coming into this one against a battle hardened Dublin team that had already played four games in the Championship.
But the men in red were excellent throughout and while Dublin started the brighter of the two and raced into an 0-3 to 0-0 lead, Louth kept their composure and reeled off six points on the spin including a fantastic two-point effort from Tony McDonnell.
Fergal Reel's side showed tremendous skill in the worst of weather, notching the point of the day in the 25th minute courtesy of senior star Pearse Grimes Murphy, who clipped over after a beautiful counter-attack which had Newtown Blues attacker Conor Mac Críosta at the forefront of the move.
As the weather disintegrated further in the second-half, the game turned into a real dogfight. A trio of Joe Quigley scores kept the Dubs in touching distance, but Tony McDonnell was the star for Louth, kicking them to victory with a fine haul of six points from midfield.
Over in Ashbourne, Meath proved to be far too strong for a Kildare side that started like a house on fire with Eoin Cully and Ben Loakman pointing after Jay O'Brien's early goal.
That only served to wake up the young Royals, who kicked five two-pointers in the first-half, three of which came from the dangerous Rian Stafford.
As in Darver, the worsening weather impacted the quality of the second-half but Meath did enough to get the job done and set up a final clash with their bitter Boyne rivals.
The final is due to take place next Wednesday, April 28.