Tyrone's Noah Grimes celebrates at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U-20 football championship final
Tyrone 5-16 Louth 0-17
By Paul Keane at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh
Attackers Noah Grimes and Eoin McElholm dovetailed superbly, blasting 4-10 between them, as Tyrone powered to back-to-back Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U-20 FC titles.
Grimes clinched the Man of the Match award with a thrilling 2-6 tally while McElholm, who struck 0-7 in last year's final win, wasn't far behind with his 2-4 haul.
There was an impressive late cameo too from substitute Shea McDermott who contributed 1-1, helping to seal the Red Hand County's eighth title at the grade.
Tyrone sizzled in the final 20 minutes, outscoring Leinster champions Louth by 3-7 to 0-4 in that period for a slightly flattering 14-point win.
Louth will kick themselves for failing to score a single goal despite three decent chances over the hour while eight wides and a number of score attempts that dropped short were costly.
But they will have no complaints about the result as Tyrone, with seven different scorers and an excellent display from Matthew Quinn, strode to a deserved win.
Louth, Leinster champions for the first time since 1981, played into a stiff first-half wind but created chance after chance and will rue their errant kicking in this period.
In the first 10 minutes alone, Louth kicked three points, dropped three more score attempts short and booted a wide.
Two minutes later, another point attempt that dropped short, this time from Adam Gillespie, fell kindly for Tony McDonnell to get a shot away that was saved.
The giant fear among the big Louth crowd that made the journey up the M1 was that they'd be made to pay for all the misses.
And sure enough Tyrone snatched a goal against the run of play in the 15th minute.
Grimes, with a point to his name already, this time cut in from the right beyond Micheal Reid and blasted left-footed to the net.
It tied up the game at 1-2 to 0-5 though Louth kept their foot down and continued to benefit from an aggressive press.
Midfielders James Maguire and Sean Callaghan were dominant for Louth in this period and a terrific Callaghan two-pointer in the 25th minute left them 0-8 to 1-4 up.
Louth, who beat Mayo at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, weren't flattered by the lead but were also powerless to prevent the game suddenly swinging back in Tyrone's favour.
Grimes, Ruairi McCullagh and Conor O'Neill added points before a Louth kick-out was intercepted by McElholm who fed Grimes for a second goal.
It was a terrific finish as Grimes, unable to bounce the ball a second time after a neat dummy bounce, dropped the ball and finished it soccer style to the net.
Tyrone now led 2-7 to 0-8 at half-time and stretched the gap to seven with points from McElholm and Grimes after the restart.
Louth got it back to a two-point game when they sandwiched a Tadhg McDonnell two-pointer with a series of singles.
Just like the first-half, Louth had opportunities to pull decisively clear but failed to convert 39th and 41st minute goal chances.
Shane Lennon had a flicked shot cleared off the line by Tyrone's Clarke and Darragh Dorian smashed the second of Louth's attempts off the bar.
This time there was no coming back for Louth who were buried by an avalanche of Tyrone scores between the 40th and 46th minutes.
McElholm burst through for two trademark goals, the first in the 43rd minute after Liam Og Mossey's spadework and the second three minutes later after a Conall Sheehy lay-off.
Grimes, McElholm and Caolan Donnelly added points in the 2-3 blitz to leave Tyrone 4-12 to 0-13 ahead, breaking the back of the Louth challenge.
Grimes and McElholm continued to tap over the points in the closing minutes and sub McDermott added a late 1-1 to gloss the scoreline and secure a 14-point win.
Tyrone scorers: Noah Grimes 2-6, Eoin McElholm 2-4, Shea McDermott 1-1, Ruairi McCullagh 0-2 (0-1f), Joey Clarke 0-1, Conor O'Neill 0-1, Caolan Donnelly 0-1.
Louth scorers: James Maguire 0-4 (1 tp), Sean Callaghan 0-3 (1 tp), Tadhg McDonnell 0-3 (1 tp), Tony McDonnell 0-2 (0-1f), Conor MacCriosta 0-1, Darragh Dorian 0-1, Shane Lennon 0-1, Adam Gillespie 0-1 (0-1f), Dylan Shevlin 0-1.
TYRONE: Conan McGarvey; Ben Hughes, Joey Clarke, Conor Devlin; Caolan Donnelly, Callum Daly, Fiachra Nelis; Conan Devlin, Conor O'Neill; Conall Sheehy, Liam Og Mossey, Matthew Quinn; Noah Grimes, Ruairi McCullagh, Eoin McElholm.
Subs: Eoin Donaghy for Sheehy 53, Darragh Donaghy for Mossey 55, Shea McDermott for Conan Devlin 58, Liam Lawn for McCullagh 60.
LOUTH: Tiarnan Markey; Keelin Martin, Padraic Tinnelly, Micheal Reid; Tadhg McDonnell, Cormac McKeown, Conor McGinty; Sean Callaghan, James Maguire; Shane Lennon, Conor MacCriosta, Pearse Grimes Murphy; Adam Gillespie, Tony McDonnell, Darragh Dorian.
Subs: Ben McKeown for Reid 43, James McGlew for McGinty 50, Dylan Shevlin for Dorian 50.
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
