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The relentless Louth overcame the Lory Meagher Cup win over Fermanagh, and walked away in the second half with an impressive eleven-point margin. Andrew Mackin’s two goals after the two water break restarts were decisive.
Early possession came close to Fermanagh and would stay in his favor during the early stages.
Louth goalkeeper Donal Connolly caught the first shot on goal over the crossbar and from that resulting play, Darren Geoghegan opened his account for free.
Fermanagh soon leveled off thanks to sublime effort from Tom Keenan, but the game went into a choppy phase with both sides adding three widths a piece. The teams traded points with Louth going back each time through David Kettle and Feidhelm Joyce.
Joe Baldwin’s team delivered a massive blow before the first half of the water break when John Duffy shot a well-executed penalty to the net. The penalty provided well-deserved daylight for the Ulster side, but the timing of the goal was kind to Louth.
After the break, Louth regrouped and Andrew Mackin found the net, forcing his way past four Fermanagh defenders before kicking low to the net.
With that surge of confidence, Louth burst into halftime much better.
Geoghegan and Kettle added to their scores on both sides of double player Paul Mathews’ effort. Three unanswered scores saw Louth lead 1-06 to 1-03 at halftime.
Right at the restart, Fermanagh substitute Ciarán Corrigan tied the game with a devastating goal from the throw-in. Corrigan took off in an arc along the baseline to pass Connolly. Conor McShea followed quickly with a point lead.
Louth responded through Niall Keenan, the Roscommon native who played in midfield passed over a spot along Cusack’s empty stands. Geoghegan added three more releases to push Wee County to the fore.
When Louth’s talented replacement Ryan Walsh came off the bench to find his goal with his first touch, the Lory Meagher Cup seemed to go only one way. Mathews pushed Louth’s lead to four in the second-half water break.
Once again, Mackin was the fastest of his teammates, burying his second goal after deftly landing his forty-yard man Joyce. With that major the game was decided.
To Fermanagh’s credit, John and Caolan Duffy tried in vain to get their team going on scoring, but even though replacement Darren O’Hanrahan saw red, the small county had too much, Geoghegan stacked free after free and closed the game. with his ninth free.
Louth: Donal Connolly; Matthew Fee, Ronan Byrne, Liam Molloy; Conor Deane (0-01), Jamie McDonnell, Andrew McCrave; Niall Keenan (0-01), James Costelloe; Darren Geoghegan (0-09, 0-09f), Feidhelm Joyce (0-01), Seanie Crosbie; Paul Mathews (0-02), Andrew Mackin (2-01), David Kettle (0-02).
Subs used: Darren O’Hanrahan for Costelloe (39) Ryan Walsh (0-01) for Kettle (43), Pádraig Fallon (0-01) for Joyce (58), Gavin Kerrigan for Paul Mathews (54), Shane Callan for Keenan (68 ).
Fermanagh: Mark Curry; Ciarán Duffy Andrew Breslin, Aidan Flanagan; Rory Porteous, Daniel Teague, Francis McBrien; Conor McShea (0-01), Dylan Bannon, Caolan Duffy (0-01), Mark Slevin, John Duffy (1-03, 0-03f, 1-00pen); Tom Keenan (0-01), Seán Corrigan (0-01, 0-01f), Ciarán Corrigan (1-01).
Subs used: Barry McPhillips for S Corrigan (24) John Paul McGarry for Bannon (ht), Luca McCusker for Slevin (45), Shea Curran for Flanagan (54), Adam McShea for T Keenan (69).
Referee: Gearóid McGrath (Wexford)
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