Dublin 1-12 Wicklow 1-8
Title-holders Dublin survived a major scare from Wicklow at Parnell Park last night to eventually book their place in the semi-final of the Leinster U-20FC.
Kevin O’Brien’s Garden County threatened to pull off a shock when restoring parity at the start of the second half, but the Sky Blues did just enough to progress.
Courtesy of a superb Sean Foran goal, Dublin were five points to the good at the first-half water break (1-5 to 0-3).
Fionn Murray added 0-2 to Dublin’s tally, while Matthew Ging and Kevin Quinn found their range for Wicklow to leave them 1-7 to 0-5 in arrears at the break.
A quick-fire 1-1 salvo from substitute JP Nolan then brought the visitors roaring back into contention before last year’s All-Ireland finalists advanced thanks to three points from Murray and a brace from Luke Swan.
SCORERS – Dublin: F Murray 0-6 (1 ’45’, 1f); S Foran 1-0; L Swan 0-3; M L’Estrange, M O’Leary, M Lavin, 0-1 each. Wicklow: JP Nolan 1-1; C McDonald (1 pen), K Quinn 0-3 each; M Ging (f) 0-1.
DUBLIN – J O’Neill; C Tyrrell, A Rafter, B Millist; R Dwyer, A Waddick, M L’Estrange; M O’Leary, A Fearon; M Lavin, L O’Dell, S Foran; F Murray, L Swan, L Ward. Subs: L Murphy-Guinane for Foran (30+3), C Chawke for Ward (44), S Forker for O’Leary, D O’Dowd for Lavin (both 55).
WICKLOW – J Sargent; C Grimes, M Stone, T Moran; G Fogarty, Z Cullen, C Maguire; E Byrne, S O’Dowd; K Quinn, J Keogh, C McDonald; M Ging, S Crowley, E Darcy. Subs: JP Nolan for Darcy (23), J Brady for Ging (38), O Cullen for Byrne (45), A Daly Danne for Maguire (55), B Hickey for Crowley (61), S Daly for McDonald (65).
REF – J Hickey (Carlow).