Louth 0-9
DCU 1-15

Louth's first outing of the New Year ended in a disappointing nine point defeat at the hands of DCU in the O'Byrne Cup on Saturday night.

The Wee County went into the game at Haggardstown without a host of regulars but the experimental side were unable to match the students who played with the greater cohesion and fluency despite also being without a number of their top names.

Among the players to help inspire DCU to victory were Louth's Brian Donnelly and Eoin O'Connor who lined out in midfield as their side claimed a deserved victory.

The Wee County had their best spell in the opening quarter when, despite going behind to a fourth minute goal, caused their opponents problems with some good passing and movement.

However, the visitors got on top in the second quarter and established a five point lead at the break that Louth never really looked like challenging in what proved to be a very lacklustre second half.

The outing gave Aidan O'Rourke the opportunity to assess some of the players hoping to break into his team. Among the newcomers who may have caught the eye of the manager included corner forwards, Stephen Campbell and Cian Doyle, while Keith McLaughlin, worked hard in defence.

Overall it was a game to forget and the signs were ominous after just four minutes when full forward Conor McGreanor lashed home an impressive goal to open the scoring.

Stephen Campbell, who can be pleased with his contribution, opened Louth's account on ten minutes while a Brian White '45' reduced the gap to one point. The Wee County also saw two efforts go wide and another shot fall short, while Doyle and Kevin Rogers were unlucky not to force the ball to the net in a goalmouth scramble.

However, that was as good as it got for Louth as McGreanor inspired DCU to take with the big Wicklow man bagging six points before the break. Eoin O'Connor also got in on the act with a long range point for his side.

Louth could only manage further points from Rogers (2), White and Paddy Keenan to trail by 1-8 to 0-6 at half time.

A Louth revival looked to be on the cards when Keenan and White pointed within five minutes of the restart, but from that stage the game belonged to the students. They added three further points without reply before Richard Brennan claimed the first black card of the year and in the 18th minute Brian White was given his marching orders when he was issued with a black card less than a minute after being booked.

The students never looked like surrendering their advantage as a rather forgettable half encounter petered out with Paddy Keenan kicking Louth's final point four minutes from the end.

DCU: James Farrelly; William Lowry, Craig Dunleavy, Ciaran Cafferky; Fionn O'Shea, Jack Smith, Pete Dooney; Eoin O'Connor 0-1, Brian Donnelly; Cormac Diamond, Paddy Fox 0-2, Davy Byrne; Colm Compton, Conor McGreanor 1-6, Donal Wrynn 0-1. Subs: Ciaran Ward 0-1 for C Compton, Conor McHugh 0-2 for D Byrne, Gary Kelly 0-2 for P Fox, Fintan Kelly for F O'Shea, Jamie Gallagher for C Diamond.

LOUTH: Shane McCoy; Kieran Leneghan, Padraig Rath, Keith McLoughlin; Gary Connolly, Derek Crilly, Liam Shevlin; Paddy Keenan 0-3, Dessie Finnegan; Declan Byrne, Brian White 0-3, Patrick Sheelan; Cian Doyle, Kevin Rogers 0-2, Stephen Campbell 0-1. Subs: Bevan Duffy for K Leneghan, Richard Brennan for L Shevlin, Dan O'Connell for P Sheelan, James Stewart for R Brennan (black card), William Woods for D Byrne. Tweet

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