Kelly ratified for second season as Louth boss

Louth manager Colin Kelly

There will be no change of management in the Louth GAA structures for 2016.

Football boss Colin Kelly was last night ratified for a second season as Wee County manager, with County Board officials backing him to bounce back from a disappointing league campaign this year in which Louth were relegated to Division Four.

Despite that setback and a heavy championship defeat to Tipperary, there was no appetite for change.

Meanwhile, Diarmuid McCarthy was also ratified for a third successive season as Louth hurling manager.

Hurlers finally off the mark with victory over Longford

Louth moved off the foot of the Allianz National Hurling League Division 3A thanks to a 3-11 to 1-10 win over Longford on Sunday afternoon.

The game at Darver represented Dee McCarthy’s first league win as manager and keeps alive the Wee County’s hopes of avoiding the relegation play-off.

It may not have been Louth’s best performance of the campaign, but they weren’t found wanting when it came to hunger and determination. Having built up a nine point lead at the break the home side rarely looked in trouble in the second period.

Despite playing against the wind, Louth got off to a great start with three goals in the early stages from Shane Callan, Gerard Smyth and David O’Mahony. Although Longford came back into it, McCarthy’s side went in at the break leading by 3-6 to 0-6.

The visitors fought hard to get back into the game in the second half and hit the net in the third quarter. However, each time Longford threatened, Louth responded with a score to preserve their healthy advantage and in the end they ran out deserving winners.

The results sees Louth join Longford on two points but the Wee County move off the bottom on score difference and they will be hoping to claim a second win when they host Donegal on Sunday next.

LOUTH: James Connolly; Andrew McCrave, Brian Carter, Conor Kerrigan; Cathal Ryan, Cian Hayes, Ronan Byrne; Shane Callan 1-2, Jason Condon 0-1; Andrew Mackin, Gary Rellis, Gerard Smyth 1-0; David O’Mahony 1-1, Diarmuid Murphy 0-6, Darren O’Hanrahan 0-1. Subs: Oisin Drumm for G Rellis, Shane Maguire for A McCrave.

Monaghan hit Louth hurlers with late sucker punch

Just as with their footballing colleagues, the Louth hurlers went down to Monaghan on a 0-15 to 1-11 scoreline in Aughnamullen on Sunday.

The Wee County looked set for their first victory of the season when they led by two points with just two minutes remaining. However, Monaghan managed to draw level before landing a winning point with the last puck of the game.

A Gerard Smyth goal had given Diarmuid McCarthy’s side a 1-6 to 0-4 lead at the break and that looked like it would prove enough in the end until the Farney men struck for the closing three points to turn the game on its head.

Louth now face Longford at home next weekend in a real battle to avoid relegation.

LOUTH: Rory O’Reilly; Andy McCrave, Brian Carter, Conor Kerrigan; Cathal Ryan, Cian Hayes, Ronan Byrne 0-2; Shane Callan 0-1, Jason Condon; Andy Mackin, Gary Rellis, Gerard Smyth 1-1; David O’Mahony 0-1, Diarmuid Murphy 0-5, David Kettle 0-1. Subs: Shane Maguire for G Rellis, Darren O’Hanrahan for G Smyth.

Completing a hat-trick of Monaghan wins over Louth at the weekend, the Monaghan minor hurlers beat the Wee County by 7-27 to 0-2 in the Ulster Minor Hurling League in Inniskeen on Saturday.

Roscommon come from behind to see off Louth hurlers

Louth’s hurlers went down to Roscommon a 2-16 to 1-15 scoreline in their opening National League Division 3A match at Darver on Sunday.

The Connacht outfit are favourites for the title this season but it was the Wee County who made the brighter start with a Diarmuid Murphy goal giving them a 1-10 to 0-7 lead at the break.

Roscommon upped their game on the restart and got back into things courtesy of a Niall Kilroy goal following a defensive mix-up that cut the gap back to two.

The visitors then got back on level terms with two further points before Cillian Egan found the net on 49 minutes to put his side 2-10 to 1-10 in front.

It was fairly end to end after that but Roscommon comfortably held out to leave new Louth boss Diarmuid McCarthy still chasing a first win since taking over at the start of the year.

Next up for Louth is a trip to face Fermanagh on Sunday.

Louth: James Connolly; Andrew McCrave, Johnny Carter, Paddy McCormack; Cathal Ryan, Cian Hayes, Conor Kerrigan; Shane Callan 0-2, Jason Condon; Darren O’Hanrahan, Gary Rellis, Andrew Mackin; Gerard Smyth 0-3, Diarmuid Murphy 1-8, David Kettle 0-2. Subs: David O’Mahony, Ronan Byrne, Shane Maguire and Ian Kelleher.

Louth hurlers open league campaign today

Louth hurlers will begin their Allianz National Hurling League Division 3A campaign against Roscommon in Darver this afternoon.

The team was selected on Friday night and is as follows: James Connolly; Paddy McCormack, John Carter, Andrew McCrave; Conor Kerrigan, Cian Hayes, Cathal Ryan; Jason Condon, Shane Callan; Andrew Mackin Gary Rellis, Darren O’Hanrahan; David Kettle, Diarmuid Murphy, Gerard Smyth.

New manager Diarmuid McCarthy will be looking to claim his first win since taking charge. Roscommon have already beaten Louth this season in the Kehoe Shield but the Wee County will be hoping for a better display this evening.

Throw-in at Darver is at 2pm.

GMIT students teach Louth a lesson in Kehoe Cup

Former player Diarmuid McCarthy is in charge of the Louth hurlers this year

Louth’s hurlers made a losing start to the year when they went down to GMIT on a 4-22 to 1-9 scoreline in the first round of the Kehoe Cup in Darver on Sunday.

There were a number of new faces on the Wee County team for Diarmuid McCarthy’s first competitive game in charge.

However, despite some promising moments a three goal burst from the visitors inside five second half minutes ensured that the students ran out easy winners in the game.

Louth were well in it in the early stages with points from Shane Maguire and Shane Callan leaving the sides level at 0-2 apiece. GMIT then responded with six unanswered points and although David Mahony replied with a free, a goal moments later rom Shane Moloney left the Connacht outfit 1-8 to 0-3 ahead.

Mahony did manage a further point for Louth before the break but it couldn’t prevent them from trailing by 1-14 to 0-4 at the interval.

Ronan Byrne and Mahony fired over quickfire points on the restart before the latter found the net to close the gap to 1-16 to 1-8.

However, GMIT upped the tempo once more and scored 3-1 in the space of five minutes to set them up for an easy win with Moloney adding a second goal and Gary Brennan also hitting a brace.

LOUTH: J Connolly; P McCormack, J Carter, A McCrave; C Hayes, B Carter, C Ryan; J Condon, S Callan (0-2); D O’Hanrahan (0-1), A Mackin, G Rellis; David Mahony (1-4, 4f), D Kettle, S Maguire (0-1). Subs: R Byrne (0-1) for D Kettle (34), S Kettle for Maguire (56), D Reid for McCrave (62), O Drumm for G Rellis (67).

New Louth minor and hurling managers appointed

Eugene Judge and Eamonn Dunne have been appointed the new joint managers of the Louth Minor team on a two-year term.

The duo bring a wealth of experience to the job with Newtown Blues man Eugene having been a selector to Paddy Clarke during his tenure as Louth boss just over a decade ago.

Eugene has also experience of winning championships as both a player and manager for the Blues, while former county star Eamonn also has a wealth of experience and has the added bonus of knowing many of the county’s up-and-coming underage stars having managed the Geraldines to this year’s Minor Championship.

Eamonn’s son Jimmy, aged 15, hit the headlines earlier this year when he signed for Manchester United.

Eugene Judge

The duo will be assisted by Ken Rooney from St Mary’s, whose side lost out to the Geraldines in the minor final.

The Louth minors will face a trip to Wexford in the first round of next year’s Leinster Championship.

Meanwhile, Diarmuid McCarthy is the new Louth Senior Hurling Manager, having also been appointed on a two year term.

A former county goalkeeper, McCarthy has played in Nicky Rackard Cup finals and is a member of the Wolfe Tones Hurling Club in Drogheda.

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