LOUTH 4-19
SLIGO 0-9

Louth Hurlers got their Nicky Rackard campaign back on track with a convincing victory over Sligo in Dowdallshill on Saturday afternoon.

Following their narrow defeat to Fingal in their opening fixture, Louth took full advantage of their second opportunity as set up a meeting with Donegal next weekend.

The Wee County went into the game as favourites and with the advantage of a strong wind in the first half they were quickly on top.

With Diarmuid Murphy, who finish the game with eight points to his name, punishing the visitors for any fouls in defence, Louth eased into an early six point lead. Dee McCarthy's side continued to press forward and were further rewarded when Davy Mahony fired in the first goal of the game before the end of the first quarter.

Murphy added a further point before the home side added a second goal through David Kettle to make it 2-7 to no score.

Sligo finally got their first point of the game in the final ten minutes of the half, but it was only a very temporary respite as Louth finished on top as goals from Shane Maguire and Mahony giving their side a 4-9 to 0-1 lead at the break.

Even with the advantage of the breeze it was always going to be an uphill task for Sligo and the Wee County's committed approach made sure they were never in with a shout of a comeback.

The Connacht men did improve and added nine points to their tally, but one of the most pleasing aspects of the game from the Louth management's point of view was that the men in red outscored their opponents by adding ten points to their tally.

LOUTH: Ruairi O'Reilly; Andrew McCrave, Johnny Carter, Conor Kerrigan; Ronan Byrne, Cian Hayes, Cathal Ryan; Shane Callan 0-3, Jason Condon 0-1; Shane Maguire 1-1, David Kettle 1-0, Darren O'Hanrahan 0-1; Davy Mahony 2-2, Diarmuid Murphy 0-8, Paddy Lynch 0-3. Subs: Paddy McCormack for C Kerrigan, Gerard Smyth for S Maguire, Gary Rellis for D Mahony, Paul McKeown for C Ryan, Andy Mackin for D Murphy. Tweet

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