Louth are in very real danger of relegation from Division Two after going down to Monaghan on a 2-14 to 0-12 scoreline in Clones yesterday to leave them rooted to the bottom of the table with just three matches to go.
Just as against Down the previous week, Aidan O’Rourke’s side were slow out of the starting blocks with Gavin Doogan’s sixth minute goal and another from Dermot Malone in the 32nd minute giving the Farney men a strong foothold.
By contrast, Louth were relying almost exclusively on the accuracy of Brian White to keep them in contention but at 2-8 to 0-6 at half-time, the Wee County were always facing an uphill struggle.
A hard task became almost impossible when Dessie Finnegan was sent-off three minutes after the restart and although the gap never really widened after that, Monaghan always looked comfortable.
On Sunday Louth host Galway in Drogheda, badly needing a result to turn around a season which has so far yielded just one point – a draw on the opening day against Armagh.
Monaghan: R Beggan 0-1 (1f); R Wylie, D Wylie, F Kelly; C Walshe, D Mone (0-1), P Keenan; G Doogan (1-1), E Lennon; K Hughes, V Corey, P Donaghy; D Malone (1-0), J McCarron (0-3, 2f), C McManus (0-7, 4f). Subs: S Carey for D Wylie, C McGuinness (0-1) for P Donaghy, K Duffy for P Keenan, S Gollogly for D Malone.
Louth: N Gallagher; P Rath, D Finnegan, G O’Hare; J O’Brien, D Crilly (0-1), K McLoughlin; P Keenan (0-1), B Duffy; A Reid, C Judge (0-4, 2f), B White (0-5 2f, 1 ’45); A McDonnell, E O’Connor, D Maguire. Subs: P Reilly for B Duffy, S Campbell for A McDonnell, G Hoey for K Mcloughlin, D Byrne for J O’Brien, K Rogers 0-1 (f) for C judge, B Donnelly for E O’Connor.
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone).
Talk of the Town 