IT WAS A good night for Louth and Offaly football as they both claimed victories in the EirGrid Leinster U21 football championship.
After last week’s encounter was postponed due to an unplayable pitch in Baltinglass, the Louth and Wicklow teams moved to Abbottstown tonight with the Wee County claiming a 1-13 to 0-9 success in their first round tie.
Ross Nally hit the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute for Louth while the point-taking of senior forward Ryan Burns was always pivotal to securing this success and setting up a quarter-final clash with Laois.
Wicklow had been in front 0-5 to 0-1 in the early stages yet Louth responded to be in front by 1-5 to 0-5 at the break. In the second half there were points from Burns, Nally and Ciaran Downey as Louth pulled clear.
At Gracefield, home side Offaly moved into the semi-final stage when they saw off Wexford by 1-6 to 0-6 on a difficult night for football.
The Faithful had three points to spare, largely thanks to Jordan Hayes finding the net early in the second half after the teams had been tied at 0-2 apiece at the interval.
Shane Tierney and captain Ruairi McNamee hit key points for the Faithful outfit, who were ahead 1-6 to 0-2 at the three-quarter mark. Despite Wexford cutting the deficit with the last four points of the game and Ian Carty impressing for them, Offaly held on for victory.
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