FINGAL 0-12
LOUTH 0-10

A spirited performance by Louth hurlers just came up short as they lost out to Fingal win the opening round of the Nicky Rackard Cup in Swords.

The Wee County's task made even more difficult by the fact that they had to play the last half hour with just 14 players after Nigel Stanley was sent off. Despite that numerical disadvantage, Dee McCarthy's side battled gamely and didn't allow the hosts to take control.

It looked as if their efforts would pay off with an unlikely victory when a David O'Mahony point put his side 0-10 to 0-9 in front. However, Fingal dashed those hopes with three injury time points to claim victory.

Louth will be back in action next week as they await the draw to see who the face in the qualifiers.

Aside from the sending-off, Louth will also rue the fact that they missed a series of chances throughout the game. The visitors played well in the first half and went into an early 0-3 to 0-1 lead but they allowed their opponents off the hook and a total of eight wides contributed to the Wee County trailing by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break.

Louth continued to play well in the second half and points from O'Mahony and Paddy Lynch saw them draw level at 0-7 apiece.

When Stanley saw red it looked as if it was all over for the visitors but they showed great determination to stay in the game and were in a good position when O'Mahony sent over the lead point.

The effort seemed to take its toll on Louth in the closing minutes when Fingal fired over three unanswered points to snatch victory.

LOUTH: Ruairi O'Reilly; Conor Kerrigan, Johnny Carter, Andy McCrave; Ronan Byrne, Cian Hayes, Cathal Ryan; Shane Callan, Jason Conlon; David Kettle, Nigel Stanley, Gary Rellis; Paddy Lynch, Diarmuid Murphy, David O'Mahony. Subs: Shane Maguire for G Rellis, Darren O'Hanrahan for J Conlon. Tweet

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