Louth 2-26
London 1-19
Tony Tighe reports from Ruislip
WILLIAM WOODS KICKED 13 points as Louth thumped London for their first win since 3 January.
The Wee County attack was in clinical form, registering only three wides, with St Finbarr’s clubman Woods lethal from placed balls.
London managed to keep in touch during an end-to-end first half, where defending at times appeared optional, with Ryan Elliott netting after a flowing attacking move on nine minutes to bring the teams level.
But the Exiles then lost Louth native Martin Carroll to a black card and found themselves five points down by the 18th minute after Ronan Holcroft’s expert finish past London goalkeeper Gavin McEvoy.
The home side managed to stay in touch with their free-scoring opponents until two minutes before half-time. Gerard Byrne, who replaced Carroll, coughed up possession cheaply on halfway and a long punt downfield was punched to the net by Conor Grimes.
That gave Louth a 2-12 to 1-9 lead at the interval and they made the game safe early in the second period with five unanswered points, three coming from the dependable Woods.
London did hit a purple patch midway through the half, with former Republic of Ireland underage international Adrian Moyles kicking some wonderful points as they reduced the gap to four points.
But London then went scoreless for a sustained period and Louth pulled clear again. Woods blazed a penalty over the bar, but it mattered little, as he moved into double figures with a late flurry of points.
Scorers:
Louth: W Woods 0-13 (11f, 0-1pen), R Holcroft, C Grimes 1-1 each, D Byrne, C Downey, G McSorley 0-3 each, A McDonnell, T Durnin 0-1 each.
London: A Moyles 0-10 (6f), R Elliott 1-1, F McMahon 0-3, L Gavaghan 0-2 (2f), M Gottsche (f), K Butler, L Irwin 0-1 each.
Louth: N Gallagher; D Marks, E Carolan, J Craven; D Maguire, B Duffy, A Williams; A McDonnell, T Durnin; C Downey, D Byrne, G McSorley; W Woods, C Grimes, R Holcroft.
Subs: N Conlon for Holcroft (54, black card), T McEnaney for Downey (60), F Donohoe for Marks (65), E Lafferty for Williams (66), A O’Brien for McSorley (70).
London: G McEvoy; P Butler, C Dunne, C Murphy; D Carrabine, R Jones, P Begley; A McDermott, M Carroll; A Moyles, M Gottsche, T Waters; R Elliott, L Gavaghan, F McMahon.
Subs: G Byrne for Carroll (16, black card), M Walsh for Jones (ht), C O’Neill for Butler (37), L Irwin for McDermott (46), E Murray for Carrabine (49, bc), K Butler for Murphy (50),
Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).
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Monaghan putting it up to Dublin in the second half certainly not a walk over. 53 minutes in and all square
League final for the rebels but will have to step it up against the Dubs as I expect them to brush Monaghan aside. Think it’s time the Northern to drop the blanket defence…. shocking to watch.
It’s been adopted by all teams below Division 1, if they try to match the big guns man to man they’ll get blown out if the water! It’s no longer just a Northern style
Maybe open your eyes Owl when watching a match and form your own unique opinions instead of following the media’s approach on criticising the northern teams. Donegal for one don’t have a blanket defence for the sake of negativity. The have a system that works and forwards that can cause real damage like against Dublin last year. They scored 19 points today. What a terribly negative team….
Maybe you should watch that game again. … blanket defence on show all day. Cork put pressure on them to come out and play and NOT because it was Donegals game plan. My opinions are formed by actually watching the game and not just reading the result…
You sir, can suck my white hammer.
Good man Jimmy. … constructive yet to the point !
Well I was at the game today so i saw quite clearly how Donegal played. You clearly have little understanding of how their tactics work. You may as well stick to the blanket criticism of every ulster team playing purely negative football.
How their tactics work ????
Yes I can see it works a treat. Silly little comment.