Dublin produced a wonderful comeback to eventually overcome Meath by 1-15 to 1-13 in extra time in their Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football championship first -round clash at Parnell Park on Saturday afternoon.
The visitors dominated the first half and enjoyed a deserved 1-10 to 0-3 interval lead with Conor Freyne's opportunistic goal in the 17th minute augmenting three points from play by the lively Jordan Morris.
Two points from Ciarán Archer within two minutes of the restart offered Dublin a degree of momentum and with Meath a pale shadow of the vibrant, attacking unit from the first half, the hosts enjoyed a monopoly on possession.
They were rewarded for their control through points from the excellent James Doran and Ross McGarry and with Meath restricted to just one second-half point, Dublin forced extra time time through a 56th-minute goal by Doran and subsequent points by Doran and Mark Tracey.
Dublin maintained their control in extra-time and with Meath managing just two close-in frees by Shane Walsh, a McGarry free and three scores from Archer proved pivotal by the final whistle.
Holders Kildare were forced to dig deep when overcoming Carlow by 2-13 to 0-9 at Netwatch Cullen Park.
The visitors held a narrow 0-10 to 0-8 interval lead and only confirmed their win thanks to goals in the final quarter by Jack Barrett and David Kelly.
There was another away win in Portlaoise as Ben Mooney and John Gallagher netted in Louth's 2-11 to 0-15 extra-time victory over Laois.
Elsewhere, Longford beat Wicklow by 1-19 to 3-8 while Cían Johnston and Conor Lynam shared nine points in Offaly's 0-13 to 1-4 home win over Westmeath.
