Louth, Non Ards (South Down), Tyrone and Sligo got their Nicky Rackard Cup campaigns off to winning starts on Saturday. In Group 3A at Dundalk, Pat Clancy's Louth recovered from a slow start to beat newcomers to the competition, Fingal, by 1-13 to 0-14. The north Dubliners built up an early 0-10 to 0-2 lead before Louth finished the first half strongly to trail by 0-7 to 0-10 at the break. In the second half, the Wee County outscored their opponents by 1-7 to 0-4 to take the spoils. Non Ards overcame Leitrim by 3-16 to 2-16 in their Group 3B tie at Newry which was delayed by half-an-hour after Antrim referee Tommy McIntyre was caught up in traffic. Leitrim led by 2-11 to 1-7 at half-time thanks to goals from Clement Cunniffe and Liam Byrnes, with Eoin McGuinness grabbing the South Down goal. Within two minutes of the restart, the hosts got themselves back into contention when Liam Morgan netted and although defender Michael Poniard replied with a similar score for Leitrim, Non Ards then scored 0-8 without reply to take a two-point lead before a second McGuinness goal sealed their win. Corner forward Peter O'Connor scored a brace of early goals as Tyrone defeated neighbours Donegal by 2-12 to 2-11 in a thrilling Group 3C encounter at Letterkenny. The throw-in was also delayed in this one by 20 minutes after the Red Hands' coach was caught up in a traffic jam - caused by an accident - in Strabane. O'Connor's early strikes helped propel the visitors into a 2-1 to 0-2 lead, but Donegal rallied with majors from Kevin and Niall Campbell to trail by 2-7 to 2-8 at the break. Both sides could only score eight points between them in the second half as Tyrone held on for the win. At Markievicz Park, Sligo proved strong for a young Cavan side in their Group 3D clash, running out 3-15 to 1-7 winners. The visitors got off to a perfect start when Philip Brady raised an early green flag but Sligo hit back with three quick goals from Aidan Walsh, Joe Bannerton and veteran Paul Severs to lead by 3-10 to 1-5 at half-time and there was no way back for the visitors in a low-scoring second half. Tweet

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