With 42 minutes on the clock at Drogheda on Saturday afternoon, Dublin's under-21s looked to be cruising to another fine scalp.

The blues led Louth by seven points, but, crucially, they failed to score again.

Louth, on the other hand, recovered from a disastrous first-half showing to score 2-5 without reply and book their place in the semi-final.

The visitors were rampant in the early stages, with corner forward Mark Vaughan particularly impressive, as he got five of Dublin's first-half scores and must have played his way into Paul Caffrey's plans for the senior campaign.

Ultimately, a 0-7 to 0-2 half-time lead was to prove Dublin's undoing for they could, and should, have been out of sight at the interval.

To their credit, Louth battled bravely in the second-half and were given a lifeline when Mark Stanfield forced the ball to the Dublin net after an unfortunate fumble by Michael Savage.

An Aaron Hoey point was followed by a second goal on 54 minutes, a superb finish by Cormac Malone to level the match.

Points from Cormac Malone, Paddy Matthews and two frees from Stanfield saw Louth home.

LOUTH: S Connor; A Page, D Shevlin, J Carr; R Carroll, S Gerrard, R Rooney; Hughes, Devaney; R Kelly, R Valentine (0-1), C Malone (1-1); P Matthews (0-1), A Hoey (0-2), M Stanfield (1-2) Subs: T O'Brien for Rooney (HT), G Long for Page (HT), A McCartney for Valentine (44).

DUBLIN: M Savage; A Downes, K Cleere, McCann; N Cooper, B Cullen, R Fallon; E Farrell, B Phelan; C Moore, Dineen, G O'Meara; B Brogan (0-2, one free), M Davoren (0-1), M Vaughan (0-6, one free). Subs: C Hore for Downes (33), K Leahy for O'Meara (53), B Kennedy for Davoren (63).

Referee: C Reilly (Meath).