Louth are out of the Leinster minor football championship after suffering a 0-10 to 0-6 defeat to Longford in Drogheda.

The result makes for disappointing reading for the Wee County, who lost both their outings in the competition despite playing at home on both occasions.

Longford, meanwhile, having run Dublin so close last Saturday week, are very much alive and kicking and they now look odds-on to book a quarter-final date with Kildare.

There was little between the teams in the first half and Longford led by the odd point from seven at the break. The Reds had started brightest to steal into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead within twelve minutes but the winners reeled off three unanswered scores to hold a slender 0-4 to 0-3 advantage at the short whistle.

David McGivney, Robbie Clarke, Barry McKiernan and Shane Kenny clipped over the visitors' first-half scores, with Ryan Rooney, Ryan Burns and Tadhg McEneaney on target for Louth before the break.

County U21 star Burns had Louth level within three minutes of the restart but Cathal McCabe restored Longford's lead two minutes later.

Even though Hunterstown Rovers clubman Burns again added to his side's tally, the midlanders kicked on and a McKiernan free had them two to the good ten minutes into the second half, 0-7 to 0-5.

After Louth came agonisingly close to registering a goal, the victors moved further ahead with points from Conor Berry (Northern Gaels) and Ciaran Donohoe (Killoe) to lead by four with just ten minutes remaining.

Clarke tagged on another Longford point to make it double scores before Burns once more replied for the hosts.

In the last minute of normal time, Louth again came close to finding the net, only to be thwarted by a combination of David Shannon and post.

The hosts - jointly managed by Eugene Judge and Eamonn Dunne - found themselves in the loser's section after suffering a humiliating 3-15 to 2-5 defeat to Wexford at this venue twelve days ago, while the midlanders fared much better last time out, pushing Dublin all the way before succumbing to an unlucky 2-11 to 0-14 defeat at Pearse Park.

Gareth Johnston's charges came to Drogheda full of belief, whereas the Wee County were determined to redeem themselves following that embarrassing no-show against Wexford.

Longford will now host Carlow next Wednesday night, with the winners of that game going on to play Kildare at the quarter-final stage on Saturday fortnight, May 17th.

Longford - D Shannon; D McLoughlin, R Sweeney, C Brady; E Macken, D Reynolds, R Duffy; S Kenny (0-1), C Berry; N Rabbitte, D McGivney (0-1), C McCabe (0-1); R Clarke (0-2), A McElligott, B McKiernan (0-4, 3f). Subs: R Brady for E Macken, C Donohoe (0-1) for C McCabe, R Sullivan for B McKiernan, P Geoghegan for R Brady.

Louth - N Carrie; D Lennon, R Lynch, N Craven; J Connolly, K Carr, J Traynor; M Corcoran, C Early; T McEneaney (0-1), P Thornton, A Brodigan; R Burns (0-4f), R Rooney (0-1), C Moore. Subs: C Doherty for T McEneaney, P Matthews for D Lennon, C O'Brien for C Early, J Loughran for P Thornton.

Referee - N McKenna. Tweet

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