LOUTH 1-16
CLARE 0-13

Louth produced a stirring second half performance to claim a six point win over Clare in Drogheda on Sunday afternoon and in doing so get their first points on the board in Division 3.

The Wee County showed great character to come back from a three-point deficit early in the second half before handing Colin Kelly his first victory at the helm. The manager can certainly be proud of his charges who fought for everything against a committed Munster side in a lively encounter between two attack-minded sides.

Clare arrived with confidence brimming after their opening day win over Wexford and they raced into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes.

However, Louth rallied and kicked 1-4 without reply as Adrian Reid's well-taken goal on 20 minutes saw his side lead by 1-5 to 0-5, with the impressive Conor Grimes adding two points during that spell.

It what was proving to be an entertaining game, Louth suffered a blow with loss of Eoin O'Connor to injury, and Clare responded with the last four points of the half to go into the break leading by 0-9 to 1-5.

Although sub, Derek Maguire levelled with his first touch after 45 seconds of the second half, Clare regained the advantage as points from Shane McGrath (2) and David Tubridy had their side leading by 0-13 to 1-7 after 43 minutes.

It looked as if the inexperience of Louth might see their efforts come to nothing, but they displayed admirable spirit to stay in the game. The superb defending, particularly from the fullback line, and was the platform for an excellent response. At the other end, the vital scores provided by Ryan Burns and Grimes may signal their coming of age at inter-county level.

The hosts had a let-off when it looked as if Clare should have been awarded a penalty, and they took full advantage with points from Ryan Burns (2) and Reid to draw level before the Hunterstown man landed an excellent free on 59 minutes to make it 1-11 to 0-13.

An inspirational point from a 50m Declan Byrne free a minute later suggested that this was going to be Louth's day as they continued to dominate against a demoralised Clare. To the relief of the home side there was to be no late collapse and a stunning score from Grimes on 68 minutes was followed by efforts from Burns, Shane O'Hanlon and Byrne secured a morale-boosting win.

LOUTH: Neil Gallagher; Kevin Toner, Paddy Reilly, Padraig Rath; Derek Crilly, Dessie Finnegan, O'Hanlon; Bevan Duffy, Eoin O'Connor; Adrian Reid 1-1, Danny O'Connor, Declan Byrne 0-2; Ryan Burns 0-5, Conor Grimes 0-3,Colm Judge 0-3. Subs: Ruairi Moore for E O'Connor, Derek Maguire 0-1 for D O'Connor, Anthony Williams for D Crilly, James Stewart for D O'Hanlon, Shane O'Hanlon 0-1 for A Reid BC.

CLARE: Joe Hayes; Stephen Collins, Dean Ryan, Martin McMahon; Ciaran Russell, Gordon Kelly, Jamie Malone; Gary Brennan, Cathal O'Connor; Sean Collins, Shane Hickey 0-3, Shane McGrath 0-4; David Tubridy 0-6, Shane Brennan, Pat Burke. Subs: Podge Collins for C Russell BC, Keelan Sexton for C O'Connor, Chris Dunning for S Collins, Martin O'Leary for P Burke, Sean Haugh for S Hickey.

REFEREE: Martin McNally (Monaghan)

Tweet

Most Read Stories