Louth 1-16
Wexford 1-10

Louth made it two successive wins in Division 3 of the National League when they had six points to spare in seeing off the challenge of Wexford in Drogheda.

Just like their victory over Clare in the previous round, Louth posted an impressive score of 1-16 and also showed great character in the final quarter to seize the initiative when the game was in the balance.

In a first half littered with mistakes from both sides, Louth failed to get into any real rhythm and at the interval were trailing by 0-8 to 0-6.

They slipped three points behind after 43 minutes, but at that stage they upped their and took charge of proceedings. The dismissal of Wexford's Adrian Flynn didn't help the visitors' cause but they threatened to spoil the party with a late goal from Conor Sinnott.

However, a fine move in the final minute allowed Tommy Durnin to finish to the net in fine style and complete the win.

The heavy pitch appeared the hamper both teams in a first half that saw countless errors from both sides.

Wexford started the brightest with the opening two points but Louth responded with scores from Colm Judge (2) and Conor Grimes. However, they couldn't build on that good spell and the visitors hit back and the game was level at five points each on 15 minutes.

Wexford had the better of a low-scoring second quarter and Judge was the only one to raise a white flag as this visitors kicked three including one from the impressive Ben Brosnan to make it 0-8 to 0-6.

Judge reduced the gap with the opening point of the second half but the Slaney-siders looked to be growing in confidence as they struck twice to make it 0-10 to 0-7.

At that stage Louth had to battle to get control of the game and turned things in their favour with points from Darren O'Hanlon, Ruairi Moore and Ryan Burns inside three minutes to level the game.

It got even better for Louth as immediately after the equaliser, Adrian Flynn saw red for an off-the-ball clash with Moore. The Wee County took advantage with four successive points from Anthony Williams, Shane O'Hanlon, Ryan Burns and Judge to lead by 0-14 to 0-10 after 29 minutes.

There was a brief scare as Conor Sinnott in for a goal on 30 minutes, but Louth showed great composure and made sure of victory with a Durnin goal after a quick counter and late points from Judge and Burns.

LOUTH: Neil Gallagher; Kevin Toner, Paddy Reilly, Padraig Rath; Anthony Williams 0-1, Dessie Finnegan, Darren O'Hanlon 0-2; Bevan Duffy, Eoin O'Connor; Adrian Reid, Colm Judge 0-6, Declan Byrne; Ryan Burns 0-3, Conor Grimes 0-1, Derek Maguire 0-1. Subs: Ruairi Moore 0-1 for B Duffy BC, Thomas Durnin 1-0 for E O'Connor, Shane O'Hanlon 0-1 for C Grimes, James Stewart for D O'Hanlon.

WEXFORD: Anthony Masterson; Rob Tierney, James Breen, Michael Furlong 0-1; Adrian Flynn, Brian Malone, Simon Donohoe; Colm Kehoe 0-1, Paddy Byrne; James Holmes, Graeme Cullen 0-1, Tiernan Rossiter; Ben Brosnan 0-4, Kevin Rowe 0-2, Kevin O'Grady 0-1. Subs: Conor Sinnott 1-0 for G Cullen, Kieran Butler for J Holmes, Dermot Flood for K Rowe, Padraig O'Keeffe for J Breen BC, Michael O'Regan for T Rossiter, Jim White for P Byrne.

REFEREE: Niall Cullen.

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