O’Callaghan leads the way for Dubs

CON O’CALLAGHAN underlined his rising talent with a 1-7 haul at Parnell Park to secure holders Dublin a semi-final spot. The Cuala attacker and Dublin senior was a class apart for the back-to-back champions. Dessie Farrell’s Dublin finished with 13 players while Meath lost a man late on too, though it was a game devoid of rancour and all dismissals were for second yellow cards. Meath were forced to concede home advantage due to issues with the floodlights at Páirc Tailteann and were playing catch-up throughout. They were on level terms twice in the first half but generally trailed a side that looked to O’Callaghan (above) for inspiration. The talented dual player finished the first half with 1-3 and his goal before half-time was a blow to Meath. Seán Barry’s visitors had fought back from leaking four points in a row midway through the half to level it at 0-6 each. But O’Callaghan latched on to a long ball into the left channel of Dublin’s attack and raced parallel to goals before slotting to the Meath net. It handed Dublin a 1-6 to 0-6 interval advantage while the Royals were hit when Joey Wallace, a Meath senior in 2015, limped off after 13 minutes. Dublin had the stiff wind in the second half but couldn’t make possession pay initially and went 16 minutes without a score. Brian Howard eventually broke the deadlock and Dublin improved with three more points in a row, including two from O’Callaghan, to win with some to spare. Dublin lost Martin Cahilan and Killian Deeley to red cards for second bookings but took the losses in their stride. Meath’s Ronan Jones also walked.