Louth are the first team to register a win in this year's Leinster SFC following a 1-13 to 1-11 defeat of Carlow in atrocious conditions at Parnell Park. In fairness, the conditions did not lend themselves to good football and it was no major surprise that both sides struggled to come to terms with the soggy surface. But it was the Wee County who marched on to book a quarter-final date with Laois at the same venue in a fortnight's time. Carlow battled gamely throughout but their late goal from sub Simon Rea wasn't enough to get them back into the game. Ray Finnegan's goal at the midway stage in the first half was sufficient to ensure Louth of a 1-5 to 0-5 interval advantage. The winners controlled the opening ten minutes but led by just 0-2 to no score at the end of this spell. Luke Dempsey's men then sprang to life to lead after 15 minutes: 0-3 to 0-2. Shane Lennon got the Wee County off to an encouraging start with a nice early point and the Reds almost suffered an early blow when Colm Judge went down with an injury and the game was held up while the Newtown Blues man tried to shake off the knock. Darren Clarke finished a flowing move to double the Louth advantage and David Reid was unlucky to hit a post as Eamonn McEneaney's charges continued to dominate territorially. Eric McCormack clipped over a nice free to open Carlow's account from 25 meters and the same player then punished a Dessie Finnegan foul to tie matters up, 0-2 apiece. Mark Carpenter landed a great point from play to send the Barrowsiders ahead but Judge, who had recovered from the early hit, was on hand to level for Louth. At the end of the first quarter, wing forward Ray Finnegan turned the tide emphatically back in Louth's favour when he blasted a low shot to the back of the net after a bad 'clearance' by Carlow 'keeper James Clarke. The buoyant Wee County led by 1-4 to 0-3 when David Reid drove over a super point from play seconds later. Clarke's free brought the Reds' unanswered scoring run to 1-3 and goalscorer Finnegan shipped a heavy hit from Willie Minchin, for which the Carlow midfielder received a yellow card. A third McCormack free on 26 minutes kept Carlow in touch and Louth's lead remained at double scores - 1-5 to 0-4 - as Clarke and Lennon registered their team's fifth and sixth wides of the afternoon respectively. Play was held up again for an injury to Carlow wing back Sean Gannon and, after eleven scoreless minutes, it was the underdogs who struck the final score of the first half - a Kieran Nolan point in injury time - to leave Louth three ahead at the end of a poor first half: 1-5 to 0-5. There were five scores in the first twelve minutes of the second half. Three of those went to Louth, who had back-to-back efforts from Clarke and Finnegan. Apart from that, the rest of the scores were swapped as Louth now led by four, 1-8 to 0-7. A McCormack free kept the game alive but Ronan Carroll replied instantly with a Louth point - the Ardee man's first of the match putting four between the teams again: 1-9 to 0-8. McCormack uncharacteristically missed a free for the Carlow men and things went from bad to worse for Luke Dempsey when referee Pat Fox dismissed Derek Hayden at the three-quarters stage with a second yellow card. The crestfallen centre forward took the long route off and walked slowly from the field. The next score went to the Wee County and, after an exchange of points from Bradley, veteran Louth substitute JP Rooney, Carlow full forward Daniel St Ledger and Clarke, Louth led by 1-12 to 0-10 with seven minutes remaining. McCormack knocked over a 32nd-minute free but Carroll pointed a minute later as the sides continued to exchange scores and Louth maintained a comfortable cushion. Substitute Simon Rea rattled the net for Carlow in the last minute of normal time but it was too little too late for the brave outsiders as only one minute of injury time was called. Louth held possession from there to the long whistle and held out for a fortunate enough win, 1-13 to 1-11. The winners must improve dramatically if they are to go any further in this year's provincial knockout competition. Louth - S Reynolds; P Rath, D Finnegan, J O'Brien; D Crilly, M Fanning, G Hoey; B White 0-1, P Keenan 0-1; R Finnegan 1-1, R Carroll 0-2, D Reid 0-1; C Judge 0-1, S Lennon 0-1, D Clarke 0-4. Subs - JP Rooney 0-1 for Judge, A Reid for D Reid, P Smith for Lennon. Carlow - J Clarke; S Myers 0-1, J Hayden, K Nolan 0-1; S Gannon, B English, S Redmond; J Murphy, W Minchin; B Murphy, D Hayden, JJ Smith; E McCormack 0-7, D St Ledger 0-1, M Carpenter 0-1. Subs - S Rea 1-0 for Minchin, D Phelan for Smith, D Molloy for Murphy, J Kavanagh for Carpenter, V Kavanagh for Gannon. Ref - Pat Fox (Westmeath) Tweet

Most Read Stories