Down canter to impressive win in Louth stroll

Down canter to impressive win in Louth stroll

5 March 2014

DOWN will have had harder training sessions this season than they did in this embarrassingly one-sided encounter in Newry on Saturday night.

From the word go, the home side were on the front foot. Louth were chasing shadows as Down attacked with pace and precision.

Within 40 seconds Niall Madine had his team’s opening score. The big Saval man twisted and turned before converting a fine point.

Four minutes in Donal O’Hare had his first free of the night before Madine got on the scoreboard again. The full forward used his sheer power to bull through a crowd of Louth defenders and clip over.

Down were relentless and two further efforts from Donal O’Hare put them 0-5 to no score up after 12 minutes.

The lively Kevin McKernan got himself in on the act on the quarter hour mark after he worked a clever move from a sideline ball.

O’Hare’s third free then arrived before the Burren man slammed home the first of Down’s four goals. The major originated at midfield when Ryan Mallon rose highest to catch clean in the air.

Mallon then galloped forward at pace where he then slipped the ball to O’Hare on the 21.

O’Hare then worked a neat one-two with Madine before he let fly to send Down into a very comfortable ten point lead after 20 minutes.

Another O’Hare free kept the pressure on Louth before the Wee County finally got their act together as full forward Darren Clarke pointed twice in quick succession to rise a bit of hope in the travelling support.

Manager Aidan O’Rourke made a few substitutions as he attempted to reinvigorate his charges.

However, it didn’t have the desired effect. Poor discipline in the Louth defence gave Donal O’Hare the opportunity to rasp over another three frees to bring his personal tally for the half to 1-8.

Louth were made to wait five minutes at the start of the second half before Down arrived on the pitch.

The waiting didn’t do them any good as a Jerome Johnston free and Mark Poland’s only score of the night extended Down’s advantage to 14 points.

Two Colm Judge set-pieces in the 40th and 41st minutes doubled Louth’s total, but O’Hare soon fired another one back for Down.

Louth’s response to this was yet another two frees from Declan Byrne. Down’s tackling was becoming slightly lackadaisical at this point as the buzz of the contest died out. Donal O’Hare’s ninth and final free of the night on 54 minutes left the score 1-15 to 0-6 in Down’s favour.

The biggest cheer of the night was then reserved for the introduction of Benny Coulter who was brought in place of Niall Madine.

After Brian White got Louth’s first from play in the second half, Coulter rose to prominence as he was on hand to grab Down’s second goal.

Jerome Johnston was the principal architect as he delivered to Mark Poland. Poland gave Louth ‘keeper Neil Gallagher the eyes before offloading to an unmarked Coulter who was never going to miss from close range.

Declan Byrne’s third point of the contest on the hour mark barely raised a whimper from the travelling support who were beginning to leave in their droves.

A free from substitute Kevin Rogers with five minutes remaining marked Louth’s last score of the game. Those that did stay on for the duration were treated to two late three pointers from the winners.

Coulter’s second was as straightforward as the first as he got on the end of a clever flick from Conor Laverty.

A majestic Peter Fitzpatrick point then gave way to Down’s fourth major as Conor Maginn dinked to the net after getting on the end of a long searching ball from Peter Turley.

Louth’s misery was further compounded with Brian White’s sending off late on. Nineteen points was the difference at the final whistle. James McCartan’s side were fitter, hungrier and faster all over the park and fully deserved their triumph.

Down: Shane Harrison, Dan McCartan, Brendan McArdle, Owen Costello, Ryan Boyle, Aidan Carr, Conor Garvey, Peter Turley, Ryan Mallon, Kevin McKernan (0-1), Mark Poland (0-1), Conor Maginn (1-0), Donal O’Hare (1-10, 9F), Niall Madine (0-2), Jerome Johnston (0-1, 1F). Subs: Declan Rooney for Boyle, Benny Coulter (2-0) for Madine, Peter Fitzpatrick (0-1) for Mallon, Conor Laverty for McKernan, Conleth O’Hare for Poland, Miceal Lively for Garvey.

Louth: Neil Gallagher, Gerard Hoey, Dessie Finnegan, Keith McLoughlin, John O’Brien, Paddy Reilly, Liam Shevlin, Paddy Kennan, Bevan Duffy, Adrian Reid, Colm Judge 0-2 (2F), Declan Byrne 0-3 (2F); Andy McDonnell, Darren Clarke 0-2 (1F), Derek Maguire. Subs: Brian Donnelly for Duffy, Brian White 0-1 for Clarke, Derek Crilly for Reilly, Kevin Rogers 0-1 (1F) for Judge, Stephen Campbell for Reid, James Stewart for Hoey.

Down 4-16

Louth 0-9

NFL DIVISION 2