Louth's junior footballers were left with a headache after bowing out of the Leinster JFC at the first hurdle. However, there was mild relief in the knowledge that the Wee County second string had put in a decent performance against Dublin in a niggly encounter at Parnell Park on Wednesday May 30 - particularly in the second half - and could consider themselves unfortunate to lose by a couple of points. Louth were forced to give second-best to the Dubs in the first quarter, managing only a solitary point during this period, and that statistic was ultimately telling as they slumped to a narrow 1-11 to 0-12 defeat in the first round of the 2007 Leinster junior football championship at Parnell Park in late May. Though Colm Judge opened the scoring for the visitors, the Reds had to wait until the 17th minute for their second point. The Dubs controlled the match during the intervening period, with their impressive midfield pairing claiming a vital foothold. Tormentor-in-chief was Ballymun Kickhams clubman Kevin Leahy, who scored ten of the winners' eleven points. The Dublin corner forward converted five frees and a point from play in the first half and tagged on four more ruthless conversions in the 5th, 11th, 29th and 30th minutes of the second half. Kevin Devine got the home team's only other point, while the all-important goal was a fortuitous score, which rebounded to the net off the unsighted Padraig Rath at the start of the second quarter The Wee County were four points adrift at the break despite fine scores from Derek Crilly, Eamon Carroll and Paul Carrie. Eamonn McEneaney's charges closed within a goal in the tenth and 13th minutes of the second half and they seemed to have every chance of success when Dublin corner back Ian Kavanagh received a red card for fouling Judge. The visitors closed within a point when Crilly dissected the posts twice more but Dublin kept their composure and replied with two more Leahy frees before Judge notched a late consolation score. Louth's woes were compounded when full back David Mackin got a second yellow card followed swiftly by a red just before the finish. Dublin were probably the better team over the hour but Louth will be disappointed that they didn't show more consistency. Had they performed as well in the opening stages as they did in the middle section of this match, then they could undoubtedly have beaten the Sky Blues on their own patch. As it was, their campaign never got off the ground. All in all, it was a disappointing defeat as Louth's recent record in the competition had been quite impressive. Ironically, Louth boss McEneaney was up against his predecessor in the senior Wee County hotseat - Val Andrews - and the timing of the game could hardly have been worse for the Reds as it came in the middle of the three-game Leinster SFC saga with Wicklow. With the third game looming large on the horizon, this meant Louth were distracted and had little or no preparation time, while player availability was also extremely limited. Louth had used 25 of their 30-man senior panel in the first two games with the Garden County, automatically ruling those individuals out of the junior championship. Thus, Louth ended up running with a makeshift side even by the usual norms of the junior knockout - but they adopted a thoroughly professional approach to the game and almost prevailed. Ultimately, the more seasoned members of the team didn't quite do enough and the horrible goal proved to be a blow from which Louth never recovered. In terms of scores from play, the Wee County managed nine points against Dublin's two - a statistic which underlines the importance of a reliable dead ball expert as well as the need for disciplined defending. Many of the frees that Louth gave away were avoidable. Furthermore, Leahy was gifted with so many gilt-edged scoring opportunities that he must have thought Christmas was coming twice in 2007. Louth started brightly with three attacks in as many minutes but gradually lost their way and began to foul unnecessarily. Three frees between the fifth and eleventh minutes fired Dublin ahead and a point from play made it 0-4 to 0-1 after 15 minutes. Fittingly, the goal also came indirectly from a Leahy free, though there was certainly no intent from the No.13 this time. He dropped his effort short before Dean Kelly's harmless-looking shot flew past Sean Connor off the arm of the hapless Rath: 1-4 to 0-1. Crilly and Carroll struck back before Leahy clipped over another free via a post after a foul on impressive Dublin full forward Graham Cullen. Dublin registered two more first-half points but Louth were still in touch at the short whistle thanks to Crilly (2) and Carrie. At half time, the Wee County trailed by 1-7 to 0-6. Though Dublin grabbed the first score after the resumption, the losers now enjoyed their best spell, outscoring the hosts by five points to one to close the gap to just one point. Judge's free began the revival and Francis McCullagh, Carrie, Crilly and Jimmy Murray were also on target. The 14-man Dubs were on the ropes now but they got out of jail when Wicklow referee Eddie Craul presented them with two very soft frees. Substitute Hugh McGinn had a late goal chance for Louth but didn't gain enough purchase on his kick. Louth: Sean Connor (St Patricks); Padraig Rath (Dreadnots), David Mackin (St Brides), Keith White (Cooley Kickhams); Padraig Matthews, (Hunterstown Rovers), John Doyle (Naomh Fionnbarra) Adrian Reid (Mattock Rangers); Eoghan McCartney (St Marys), Colm Kearney (O'Connells); Eamon Carroll (St Patricks, 0-1); Derek Crilly (Dundalk Gaels, 0-4), Francis McCullagh (Naomh Mairtin, 0-1); Colm Judge (Newtown Blues, 0-3), James Murray (Newtown Blues, 0-1), Paul Carrie (Hunterstown Rovers, 0-2). Substitutes: Richard Brennan (Cooley Kickhams), Alan McKinney (St Marys), Hugh McGinn (Newtown Blues) Tweet

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