Monaghan 1-13 Louth 2-17
Louth recovered from a poor start against hosts Monaghan to run out eventual winners in this hard-fought Nicky Rackard Cup semi-final.
An injury-time goal from Donagh O'Sullivan sealed victory for the Wee County after Monaghan had fought their way back into the contest with a goal four minutes from the end.
The match looked to be heading Monaghan’s way early on, with the Ulster side leading 0-08 to 0-03 after 25 minutes. But Louth closed out the remaining minutes of the first-half the stronger and were just a point behind at the break.
This pattern continued after the restart with Louth firing over a string of points to take a commanding four point lead.
Monaghan’s Stephen Lambe scored the bulk of his 1-05 total in the following minutes to haul his side back into contention. But Shane Callan’s goal for Louth had given them enough of a cushion to see out the game.
London 1-29 Fingal 1-5
The clash of Fingal and London in Ruislip was a very one-sided affair. By half time the game had long since ceased to be a competition and London led by 1-22 to 0-02.
Hardly a surprise then that Fingal took a long time to re-emerge onto the pitch after the break.
At one stage the home side had 22 points on the board to Fingal’s 2 points. Fingal did manage to get in for a consolation goal with two minutes to go but it was all in vain.
London march on and can look forward to a trip across the Irish Sea to Croke Park to face Louth.
