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Dublin 2-25 Wexford 1-12

Dublin's Dean Rock under pressure from Conor Carty of Wexford
Dublin's Dean Rock under pressure from Conor Carty of Wexford

Cormac Costello delivered another super substitute performance to help Dublin to a 2-25 to 1-12 win over Wexford and a ninth Leinster SFC final in 10 seasons.

The former underage star helped himself to 1-5 in just 35 minutes and in the process became Dublin's leading scorer in this year's Championship.

It is an achievement that demonstrates Dublin's awesome panel depth following his three-point substitute appearance against Laois.

Dublin trailed at half-time against Laois, something they had done in four of their seven Championship games under Jim Gavin before this one.

But they were rarely under pressure this time and a four-point lead at half-time was something more like the status quo.

From there, they duly closed out the game with a siege of second-half scoring, 2-15 in total, ensuring a Leinster final rematch with Meath on 20 July.

It will be the third season in a row that the old rivals have met and All-Ireland champions Dublin will go in as big favourites again.

There is no let up to the back-to-back league champions' dominance and their substitutes continue to make a dramatic impact for them.

Dublin subs scored 3-17 in last year's Championship, 0-9 against Laois last time out and another 1-9 here.

It was ominous beginning for Wexford supporters in the 46,279 crowd as Dublin moved 0-4 to 0-1 ahead in the opening minutes.

Stephen Cluxton opened the scoring with a converted '45 before Paul Flynn, Paul Mannion and Dean Rock got in on the act.

Dublin's Paul Mannion has a shot blocked

Wexford fought back to one down and enjoyed spells of good play but Dublin deservedly led 0-10 to 0-6 at half-time.

Jim Gavin's side were without All Star forward Bernard Brogan although they didn't particularly miss him, brother Alan, Rock and Paul Mannion all getting on the score-sheet.

A Jason Holmes point after the restart left Wexford just three behind, but Dublin took off from there with a succession of scores to put serious daylight between the sides.

Costello got Dublin's opening goal after 47 minutes after a great solo run and pass from Michael Darragh Macauley, moving them 1-14 to 0-8 ahead.

There was a brace of points each for subs Eoghan O'Gara and Tomas Brady before Dublin's second goal late on.

Paul Flynn got the goal a minute from full-time, blasting a right footed shot to the roof of Wexford's net to secure a whopping 16-point demolition.

Wexford managed a goal of their own, which was little more than a consolation, with Daithi Waters netting heading into the last ten minutes. Overall, though, Wexford had no answer to Dublin.

Dublin: S Cluxton (0-01, 1 '45), P McMahon (0-01), J Cooper, R O'Carroll, J McCarthy, K Nolan, N Devereux (0-01), MD Macauley (0-01), C O'Sullivan, P Flynn (1-02), D Rock (0-04, 4f), D Connolly (0-02, 1f), P Mannion (0-03), A Brogan (0-01), K McManamon.

Subs: C Costello (1-05, 2f) for Rock, E O'Gara (0-02) for Brogan, J McCaffrey for McManamon, T Brady (0-02) for O'Sullivan, M Fitzsimons for Devereux, B Cullen for Macauley.

Wexford: S Roche, C Carty, G Molloy, R Tierney, M Furlong, B Malone, A Flynn, D Waters (1-00), P Byrne, K O'Grady (0-01), PJ Banville (0-03), T Rossiter, C Lyng (0-01, 1f), B Brosnan (0-06, 3f), J Holmes (0-01).

Subs: Cillian Kehoe for Holmes, M O'Regan for Flynn, E Nolan for Byrne, D Dunne for Rossiter, Colm Kehoe for O'Grady. G Cullen for Banville.

Referee: C Branagan (Down).

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