Louth, Armagh and Roscommon enjoyed winning starts to their Nicky Rackard Cup campaigns yesterday.

Paddy Kelly's Louth side recovered from a sluggish start to defeat Tyrone by 3-15 to 1-7 at Dundalk. The visitors led after 15 minutes thanks to Justin Kelly's penalty, but Derek Horan's fortuitous goal in stoppage-time helped edge the Wee County into a 1-7 to 1-5 interval lead.

Louth took complete control after full forward Shane Callan blasted their second goal in the 45th minute. Substitute Kevin McNally added a third major five minutes later to make the victory safe.

Tyrone's misery was compounded by the dismissal of their full back Brian McGilloway in the 53rd minute.

Armagh were also comfortable winners, overcoming Fingal by 3-15 to 1-12 at Crossmaglen. Fingal twice hit the upright in the opening seven minutes and were made to pay for those misses as the home side roared back to take a 1-7 to 0-2 lead into the break with Ryan Gaffney scoring their goal.

In the second half, Paul McCormack and Ger Enright added further goals for the Orchard County, while Emmett McCabe managed a consolation goal for the Dublin outfit.

In Athleague, Roscommon were 4-16 to 0-18 winners over NHL Division 4 champions Monaghan. Manager Seamus Qualter won't be entirely satisfied with the Rossies' display, however, as they struggled to translate their dominance into scores for long periods.

Monaghan were well in the game until the half-hour mark when the home side fired two goals in 40 seconds through Johnny Coyne and Gerry Fallon to lead by 2-5 to 0-7 at half-time.

On the restart, they made the game safe with further goals from Niall Kilroy and substitute Eamon Kelly. Monaghan's Michael McHugh scored 0-14, but still finished on the losing side. Tweet

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