Meath wing-forward Shaun Leonard wriggled into space to fire over the winning point in the final minutes of the game to give his county a first minor football crown since 1992.

Tyrone’s strong start was not maintained and the Leinster champions fought back to take the minor crown after a huge battle in Croke Park.

Several wides cost the Ulster champions as they failed to pull away from Cathal O Bric’s side.

The teams were tied eight times throughout the biggest match on the minor football calendar before Leonard sealed the win for the Royals.

Tyrone captain Cormac Devlin found the net in the eighth minute to give his side a four-point lead.

However, O Bric’s side responded well and the two teams were level at 1-04 just six minutes after Devlin’s opening goal.

Meath had the lead after the first half – a slender one-point margin in their favour.

The Royals increased their lead to three after substitute Conor Owens had tied things up at 1-08 a piece.

Oisin O Murchu scored his final point of the game in that stretch to bring his total to 1-02 in the game – the most of any Meath player.

Owens was involved in the final Tyrone stretch of point-scoring alongside Ruairi McHugh and Ronan Cassidy but the sub could not help his side force extra time after Leonard’s winning strike.

Meath ended a 29-year-wait for a minor football title while the 11-year wait for the Red Hand will go on.

Gerard Donnelly’s side scored 53 points en route to this year’s final and won the Ulster final by seven points.

Their semi-final win over Cork saw the side outscore the Munster champions by 14 to book a date with Meath.

They came in as favourites but Meath had other plans.

The post Meath Score Late Against Tyrone To Win All-Ireland MFC appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The Rebel County ran out 5-28 to 0-03 winners in an extremely one-sided affair in Dungarvan, a week after their minor hurlers beat Waterford by the same margin.

The Déise have never defeated Cork at minor level and their most recent match-up was clear evidence that the gap between the sides is too big.

Jamie O’Driscoll netted a hat-trick with Darragh O’Brien and Niall Daly scoring goals also.

Three other Cork minor footballers got seven points or above on the night to help the side to a 40-point win.

Adam Murray scored all of Waterford’s points but none of them came from play.

Very harsh on any bunch of young lads to suffer that beating, hardly worth applauding that scoreline .

— Séamus Joyce (@seamyjoyce) July 21, 2021

Many people were appalled by the visible gulf between the two sides and took pity on the Waterford minors.

The size of the deficit was a huge shock to many of those who commented on the game.

Some Cork fans congratulated their side on the victory they had achieved on Wednesday night.

However, other fans felt it was unfair to cheer such a result at the behest of minor footballers who had trained hard for the occasion.

Dan that was embarrassing. Feel really sorry for Waterford minors. No minor team deserves to be hammered like that. Plus it’s of no benifit to Cork. They would have been better off playing an A v B game

— Diarmuid #STAYATHOME (@DD2705) July 21, 2021

Fans took to Twitter to give their thoughts on what should be changed so this may never happen again.

There were people who feared that counties may lose promising footballers as a result of being on the end of such scorelines.

One user ‘@DylanFins11‘ said that something must be done about these “mismatches.”

Some suggested a B championship at minor level so the young players can play other teams at their level.

That’s going to encourage young lads in Waterford to play football, similar beating for Antrim by Donegal last night too. @officialgaa restructure needed there needs to be grades. Plenty of counties would happily have a chance at All Ireland Minor C Medals than be bet like that. https://t.co/YfjMkfvPcz

— Cian Brady (@CianBrady7) July 22, 2021

Cork’s minors will progress to a provincial semi-final where they will play the Kerry GAA minor footballers.

A closer result in that game would be appreciated by the masses.

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