IF HALVING A 28-point drubbing to a team of Kerry’s quality in 12 months is considered progress, then Louth are on the right path.
A year ago, at the same Portlaoise venue, Kerry dished out a five-goal 28-point beating to the Wee county. A year on the deficit was down to 14 points, and just two goals conceded. Louth will head into next weekend’s Preliminary quarter-finals as happy as any team could after such a loss.
The thing is, Louth knew they were playing Championship football next week, it was just a matter of where they finished in Group 4 and where that might send them next week. In the end, the margin of defeat against Kerry – coupled with Monaghan’s three-point win over Meath – means Louth finish second and will avoid being ‘away’ next weekend, albeit they won’t have ‘home’ advantage as Ardee isn’t suitable to host a Championship match.
Tommy Durnin of Louth and Diarmuid O'Connor compete. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
From Kerry’s perspective, there was good and not so good in O’Moore Park. The good is that they won to secure direct passage to Croke Park in a fortnight, and they got a reasonable test from Louth, not least in the first half when the beaten Leinster finalists threw plenty at them.
The not so good for the Kingdom was the several goal chances Louth created, and Jack O’Connor will know a serious tightening up of his defence will be required before the bigger acreage of Croke Park.
Kerry led by five at the turnaround, 0-13 to 1-5, but Louth would have been quietly pleased with how they had performed. In the corresponding game last year Louth were 18 behind at the break so there was that.
Advertisement
Early points from Joe O’Connor, Sean O’Shea and Tony Brosnan got Kerry up and running but then, seven minutes in, Donal McKenny gathered a high dropping ball over Tadhg Morley and slipped it past Shane Ryan to level the score.
Louth’s game plan was to defend in big numbers but counter-attack quickly with plenty of players pouring forward. The only problem was some handling errors and poor shot execution betrayed the Leinster finalists.
Meanwhile, Kerry were happy enough to absorb the pressure, counter-attack quickly and pick off the points with scores from David Clifford (4), Paudie Clifford (2), Brian Ó Beaglaioch (2), Paul Murphy and Diarmuid O’Connor pushing Kerry to their 0-13 to 1-5 half time lead.
Louth’s points came from Craig Lennon, Ciarán Byrne, Conor Grimes, Sam Mulroy (free) and Bevan Duffy.
Sean O’Shea and David Clifford points extended Kerry’s lead soon after the restart – in between which Craig Lennon missed a goal chance from 10 metres when played through by Ciaran Keenan.
In the 47th minute, Kerry struck for their first goal, Diarmuid O’Connor pouncing on the rebound to find the net after Niall McDonnell had saved Jason Foley’s shot, as Kerry went 1-17 to 1-7 ahead.
Keenan wasted another Louth goal chance in the 55th minute, blazing his shot over the bar from close range, and seven minutes later Sean O’Shea set up Tadhg Morley for Kerry’s second goal to seal the win.
Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-7 (5f), T Morley, P Clifford 0-2, D O’Connor 1-1, B Ó Beaglaíoch 0-3, J O’Connor 0-2, S O’Shea 0-2 (1f), P Murphy 0-1, T O’Sullivan 0-1, T Brosnan 0-1, D Moynihan 0-1
Scorers for Louth: S Mulroy 0-3 (2f), D McKenny 1-0, C Grimes 0-2, C Lennon 0-1, B Duffy 0-1, P Mathews 0-1, C Keenan 0-1, C Byrne 0-1
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor; Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan; David Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Cillian Burke for T Brosnan (55), Killian Spillane for P Geaney (55), Dylan Casey for J Foley (67), Mike Breen for T Morley (67), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (67).
Louth: Niall McDonnell, Donal McKenny, Dan Corcoran, Dermot Campbell, Conall McKeever, Anthony Williams, Craig Lennon, Tommy Durnin, Bevan Duffy, Paul Mathews, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes, Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy, Ciarán Byrne.
Subs: Leonard Grey for C Lennon (50), Conor Early for P Mathews (52), Tom Jackson for R Burns (60), Liam Jackson for C Byrne (67), Peter McStravick for B Duffy (67),
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
4 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Kerry secure direct passage to Croke Park with 14-point win
Kerry 2-21
Louth 1-10
IF HALVING A 28-point drubbing to a team of Kerry’s quality in 12 months is considered progress, then Louth are on the right path.
A year ago, at the same Portlaoise venue, Kerry dished out a five-goal 28-point beating to the Wee county. A year on the deficit was down to 14 points, and just two goals conceded. Louth will head into next weekend’s Preliminary quarter-finals as happy as any team could after such a loss.
The thing is, Louth knew they were playing Championship football next week, it was just a matter of where they finished in Group 4 and where that might send them next week. In the end, the margin of defeat against Kerry – coupled with Monaghan’s three-point win over Meath – means Louth finish second and will avoid being ‘away’ next weekend, albeit they won’t have ‘home’ advantage as Ardee isn’t suitable to host a Championship match.
From Kerry’s perspective, there was good and not so good in O’Moore Park. The good is that they won to secure direct passage to Croke Park in a fortnight, and they got a reasonable test from Louth, not least in the first half when the beaten Leinster finalists threw plenty at them.
The not so good for the Kingdom was the several goal chances Louth created, and Jack O’Connor will know a serious tightening up of his defence will be required before the bigger acreage of Croke Park.
Kerry led by five at the turnaround, 0-13 to 1-5, but Louth would have been quietly pleased with how they had performed. In the corresponding game last year Louth were 18 behind at the break so there was that.
Early points from Joe O’Connor, Sean O’Shea and Tony Brosnan got Kerry up and running but then, seven minutes in, Donal McKenny gathered a high dropping ball over Tadhg Morley and slipped it past Shane Ryan to level the score.
Louth’s game plan was to defend in big numbers but counter-attack quickly with plenty of players pouring forward. The only problem was some handling errors and poor shot execution betrayed the Leinster finalists.
Meanwhile, Kerry were happy enough to absorb the pressure, counter-attack quickly and pick off the points with scores from David Clifford (4), Paudie Clifford (2), Brian Ó Beaglaioch (2), Paul Murphy and Diarmuid O’Connor pushing Kerry to their 0-13 to 1-5 half time lead.
Louth’s points came from Craig Lennon, Ciarán Byrne, Conor Grimes, Sam Mulroy (free) and Bevan Duffy.
Sean O’Shea and David Clifford points extended Kerry’s lead soon after the restart – in between which Craig Lennon missed a goal chance from 10 metres when played through by Ciaran Keenan.
In the 47th minute, Kerry struck for their first goal, Diarmuid O’Connor pouncing on the rebound to find the net after Niall McDonnell had saved Jason Foley’s shot, as Kerry went 1-17 to 1-7 ahead.
Keenan wasted another Louth goal chance in the 55th minute, blazing his shot over the bar from close range, and seven minutes later Sean O’Shea set up Tadhg Morley for Kerry’s second goal to seal the win.
Scorers for Kerry: D Clifford 0-7 (5f), T Morley, P Clifford 0-2, D O’Connor 1-1, B Ó Beaglaíoch 0-3, J O’Connor 0-2, S O’Shea 0-2 (1f), P Murphy 0-1, T O’Sullivan 0-1, T Brosnan 0-1, D Moynihan 0-1
Scorers for Louth: S Mulroy 0-3 (2f), D McKenny 1-0, C Grimes 0-2, C Lennon 0-1, B Duffy 0-1, P Mathews 0-1, C Keenan 0-1, C Byrne 0-1
Kerry: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Tom O’Sullivan; Brian Ó Beaglaoich, Tadhg Morley Gavin White; Diarmuid O’Connor, Joe O’Connor; Tony Brosnan, Paudie Clifford, Dara Moynihan; David Clifford, Sean O’Shea, Paul Geaney.
Subs: Cillian Burke for T Brosnan (55), Killian Spillane for P Geaney (55), Dylan Casey for J Foley (67), Mike Breen for T Morley (67), Barry Dan O’Sullivan for J O’Connor (67).
Louth: Niall McDonnell, Donal McKenny, Dan Corcoran, Dermot Campbell, Conall McKeever, Anthony Williams, Craig Lennon, Tommy Durnin, Bevan Duffy, Paul Mathews, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes, Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy, Ciarán Byrne.
Subs: Leonard Grey for C Lennon (50), Conor Early for P Mathews (52), Tom Jackson for R Burns (60), Liam Jackson for C Byrne (67), Peter McStravick for B Duffy (67),
Ref: Conor Lane (Cork)
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Kerry Louth quarter-finalists