Kildare 1-16
Louth 0-7
Colin Kelly won't recall his first competitive game as Louth manager with any great fondness as his team slumped to a 12-point defeat at the hands of holders Kildare in Newbridge.
The Wee County managed to register just one point from play during the course of the 70 minutes while, at the other end of the field, Daroch Mulhall and Tomas O'Connor were in fine scoring form for the Lilies.
Right corner-forward Mulhall put his name to eight points of his side's final tally while O'Connor struck for the game's only goal in the first-half.
Hugh Lynch also put in an industrious shift for the winners at midfield while Louth lost Declan Byrne to a black card in the 9th minute.
The defeat could have been worse for the visitors had Jason Ryan's charges not clocked up 10 wides and their inept display highlighted the rebuilding job facing Kelly following the retirements of Paddy Keenan and Shane Lennon.
Kildare - M Donnellan; C Fitzpatrick, P Kelly (0-1), G Farrell; C O'Donoghue, D O'Brien, E Doyle; P O'Neill (0-1), H Lynch (0-1); S McNally, E Callaghan (0-1), E O'Flaherty (0-1); D Mulhall (0-8), T O'Connor (1-1), F Dowling (0-1). Subs: W Burke for E Doyle, E Murphy (0-1) for E O'Flaherty, D White for P O'Neill, D Slattery for E Callaghan, S Campbell for S McNally, S Hanafin for D Mulhall.
Louth - N Gallagher; K Toner, D Crilly, P Nixon; D McComish, P Rath, J Stewart; B Duffy, R Brodigan; R Moore, H McGinn, D Maguire; D Byrne (0-1), D O' Connor, R Burns (0-3). Subs: S McCann for D Byrne (BC), J Connolly for P Nixon, D Finnegan for R Moore, P Berrill for J Stewart, T Durnin for B Duffy, R Holcroft (0-3) for D Maguire.
Referee - F Smith.
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