Louth 1-13 Carlow 1-11

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• Tuairisc: Tuairisc ó Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin ar An Lú 1-13 Ceatharlach 1-11.

by James McMahon

Louth booked their place in the Leinster SFC quarter-final and a meeting with Laois following a hard fought victory over Carlow in atrocious conditions at Parnell Park.

A Ray Finnegan goal for the Wee county after 17 minutes was the decisive score in the opening period as the winners went in 1-05 to 0-05 clear at the interval.

Credit must be given to Carlow for their tenacity throughout, as the opening exchanges saw Eamon McEnaney's men in full flow with points from Shane Lennon and Darren Clarke, and a goal-bound effort from David Reid that hit the post.

Carlow steadied the ship with Eric McCormack slotting over a brace of points from placed balls, before Mark Carpenter landed a great score from play to put Luke Dempsey's side ahead after 14 minutes.

The Louth response, and a crucial one at that, came when Finnegan blasted a low shot to the corner of the net. From the kick out, David Reid kicked over a super point from 40 yards and Louth had regained the upper hand and so took a three point lead going in at the break.

As the rain got heavier in the second half, the standard of play dropped (not that it was too high to begin with), with Louth always managing to maintain a manageable lead, thanks in no small way to the efforts of Clarke and Finnegan.

Carlow's cause was not helped with the dismissal of Derek Hayden after 54 minutes, but despite this they battled on gamely as McCormack continued to slot over the placed balls and full-forward Daniel St Ledger also chipped in with a fine point. Louth were able to spring veteran J P Rooney from the bench and he got his name on the scoresheet.

Substitute Simon Rea goaled for Carlow in the last minute of normal time, but it was a case of too little too late, as referee, Pat Fox only added one additional minute.

Louth will be happy to have gotten over this encounter, but improvement will be needed for the meeting with the O'Moore county back at Parnell Park on 31 May.

Louth S Reynolds; P Rath, D Finnegan, J O'Brien; D Crilly, M Fanning, G Hoey; B White 0-1, P Keenan 0-1; R Finnegan 1-1, R Carroll 0-2, D Reid 0-1; C Judge 0-1, S Lennon 0-1, D Clarke 0-4. Subs - JP Rooney 0-1 for Judge, A Reid for D Reid, P Smith for Lennon.

Carlow J Clarke; S Myers 0-1, J Hayden, K Nolan 0-1; S Gannon, B English, S Redmond; J Murphy, W Minchin; B Murphy, D Hayden, JJ Smith; E McCormack 0-7, D St Ledger 0-1, M Carpenter 0-1. Subs - S Rea 1-0 for Minchin, D Phelan for Smith, D Molloy for Murphy, J Kavanagh for Carpenter, V Kavanagh for Gannon.

Referee: Pat Fox (Westmeath)