In their third successive appearance in the Nicky Rackard Cup final, London finally claimed the silverware at Croke Park.
Cork native Martin Finn laid on a memorable display of finishing which netted him a 2-08 tally.
The Exiles dominated from start to finish, and their well organised defence had little difficulty in dealing with Louth’s limited scoring threat.
Finn was London’s major force in attack, hitting their opening four points as they eased into a 0-04 to 0-02 lead by the 15th minute.
Diarmuid Murphy’s fourth converted free brought the Wee County level midway through the first half, and his immaculate striking regained the lead for his side on 22 minutes.
But the Exiles got in for a goal in the 24th minute. Richard O’Connell’s pass was intercepted by Donagh O’Sullivan and deflected into the path of Flynn, who made no mistake from close range.
Finn bagged his second goal just before half-time. Shane Ryan’s searching delivery broke to Patrick Sloane, who released the deadly full forward for a cool finish past Eddie McArdle.
London led by 2-07 to 0-07 at the interval, and tightened their grip on the contest in the second half, with substitute Kevin Canty making a big impact with three tidy points from play.
After drifting out of the action for a spell, Finn set about increasing his tally with another couple of scores from frees.
Soon it was a procession towards the Louth goal, with Canty adding two more classy points to his tally, and further scores coming from Richard O’Connell, Michael Walsh and Jimmy Mulcahy.
Louth’s Murphy finished with an eight points tally, all from placed balls, but this was to be a day for the Exiles.
London scorers: M Finn 2-08 (0-06f, 0-01 ’65), K Canty 0-05, S Ryan, M Walsh 0-02 each, N Forde, R O’Connell, J Mulcahy 0-01 each.
Louth scorers: D Murphy 0-08 (8f), D Horan, D O’Sullivan, S Fennell 0-01 each.
London: A Ryan, T Hogan, B Costello, C Burke, M Walsh, C Forde, G Hill, E Cooney, K Bolger, R O’Connell, S Ryan, N Forde, P Sloane, M Finn, H Vaughan.
Subs: K Canty for Cooney, J Maher for Vaughan, D Maher for Hill, J Mulcahy for Bolger, K Walsh for Sloane
Louth: E McArdle, M Wallace, C Kerrigan, A Wallace, D Horan, R Byrne, Donagh O’Sullivan, G Smyth, D Dunne, D Kettle, S Callan, D Murphy, B Corcoran, P Brennan, Diarmuid O’Sullivan.
Subs: W Morrissey for Brennan, D O’Hanrahan for Smyth, S Fennell for Kettle, K McNally for O’Sullivan, B Hassett for Corcoran
Referee: M Haverty (Galway).
