CAPTAIN SAM MULROY and Ciaran Downey blasted a brace of goals apiece as Louth finished strongly to see off Wexford, setting up a Leinster SFC semi-final clash with Kildare in a fortnight.
With Kildare edging out Wicklow 0-16 to 1-12 in a cracker, Louth duly took care of business in the second part of a Portlaoise double header, advancing past Wexford on a 4-10 to 0-15 scoreline.
Wexford scored more times but Louth got the goals and last season’s Leinster finalists will fancy their chances back at Croke Park on 28 April against the struggling Lilywhites.
Louth took their time before making sure of the win though with just three points separating the teams approaching the hour mark.
Mulroy then dispatched 59th and 67th minute penalty kicks, both of which were won by the industrious Ciaran Keenan, to make sure of the quarter-final win.
Liam Jackson, Tommy Durnin and Ryan Burns weighed in with important second-half points too, though the seven-point winning margin flattered Louth somewhat as they led by just 1-6 to 0-8 at half-time.
In fact, they didn’t take the lead in the first-half until Downey hit his first goal in the 33rd minute.
The same player then strode through the centre of Wexford’s defence in the 54th minute before smashing in his second goal.
Louth needed that three-pointer too because Wexford refused to relent and enjoyed a strong midfield platform. But National League status ultimately told as Division 2 Louth hit the afterburners to secure the anticipated win at the expense of the Division 4 side.
Louth will be joined by Kildare at Croke Park later this month but Oisin McConville and his Wicklow team must still be wondering how they failed to advance.
A dramatic final few minutes in the earlier quarter-final in Portlaoise ended with Kildare wing-back Jack Sargent punching over the winning point, saving manager Glenn Ryan yet more blushes following their spring relegation to Division 3.
Trailing by four points in the 65th minute, Wicklow, fresh off their Round 1 win over Westmath at the same venue a week earlier, conjured 1-1 through substitute Oisin McGraynor to sensationally cancel out the deficit.
McGraynor’s 73rd minute goal came from a penalty after Kildare’s Eoin Doyle lost the ball, got caught in a foot race with Kevin Quinn and resorted to a crude drag-down for the spot kick.
That resulted in a black card for Doyle, leaving Kildare down to 13 players as midfielder Kevin Flynn was shown a red card in the 30th minute for a dangerous challenge.
Remarkably, Kildare coughed up possession again in the 74th minute and Wicklow’s Matt Nolan this time had a free shot at an empty goalmouth but booted it marginally wide from around 45 metres out.
As if to compound the agony for Wicklow fans, Kildare went straight up the pitch and scored that match-winner, an epic end to a game bursting with drama and talking points.
Kevin Feely top scored for Kildare with seven points, five of those coming in the first-half to help his team to a 0-9 to 0-7 interval lead.
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Louth scorers: Sam Mulroy 2-4 (0-4f, 2-0 pen), Ciaran Downey 2-0, Tommy Durnin 0-2, Conor Grimes 0-1 (0-1m), Tom Jackson 0-1, Liam Jackson 0-1, Ryan Burns 0-1.
Wexford scorers: Graeme Cullen 0-3, Sean Nolan 0-3 (0-2f), Glen Malone 0-2, Liam Coleman 0-2 (0-1 45), Mark Rossiter 0-2, Paraic Hughes 0-2, Kevin O’Grady 0-1.
LOUTH: Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Dermot Campbell, Peter Lynch; Leonard Grey, Anthony Williams, Conall McKeever; Tommy Durnin, Ciaran Murphy; Ciaran Downey, Ciaran Keenan, Conor Grimes; Ryan Burns, Sam Mulroy, Tom Jackson.
Subs: Liam Jackson for Tom Jackson 46, Niall Sharkey for Grey 46, Bevan Duffy for Murphy 46, Dan Corcoran for Campbell 62, Paul Matthews for Durnin 68.
WEXFORD: Rory Tubritt; Gavin Sheehan, Darragh Lyons, Eoin Porter; Dylan Furlong, Paraic Hughes, Glen Malone; Liam Coleman, Niall Hughes; Kevin O’Grady, Eoghan Nolan, Mark Rossiter; Graeme Cullen, Sean Nolan, Ben Brosnan.
Subs: Tom Byrne for Eoghan Nolan 49, Conor Kinsella for Brosnan 49, Richie Waters for Cullen 61, Shane Pettit for Rossiter 66, Jonathan Bealin for O’Grady 70.
Referee: Seamus Mulhare (Laois).
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Kildare scorers: Kevin Feely 0-7 (0-5f), Niall Kelly 0-3, Paddy Woodgate 0-2 (0-1f), Darragh Kirwan 0-1, Aaron Masterson 0-1, Darragh Kirwan 0-1, Jack Sargent 0-1.
Wicklow scorers: Oisin McGraynor 1-1 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), Kevin Quinn 0-2 (0-2f), Christopher O’Brien 0-2, Dean Healy 0-2, Patrick O’Keane 0-1, Darragh Fee 0-1, Tom Moran 0-1, John Paul Nolan 0-1, Gearoid Murphy 0-1.
KILDARE: Mark Donnellan; Mick O’Grady, Shea Ryan, Ryan Burke; Jack Sargent, Eoin Doyle, Paddy McDermott; Aaron Masterson, Kevin Flynn; Shane Farrell, Niall Kelly, Alex Beirne; Kevin Feely, Daniel Flynn, Darragh Kirwan.
Subs: Brian Byrne for O’Grady 24, Paddy Woodgate for Feely 28-31 blood, Woodgate for Feely 35-37 blood, Woodgate for Daniel Flynn 38, Tony Archbold for McDermott 61, Harry O’Neill for Byrne 64-f/t blood, Shane O’Sullivan for Farrell 70, Ryan Houlihan for Ryan 71-72 blood.
WICKLOW: Shane Doyle; Tom Moran, Malachy Stone, Cillian McDonald; Darragh Fee, Patrick O’Keane, Matt Nolan; Craig Maguire, Jack Kirwan; Jonathan Carlin, Dean Healy, Gavin Fogarty; John Paul Nolan, Kevin Quinn, Christopher O’Brien.
Subs: Joe Prendergast for O’Keane 31-33 blood, Gearoid Murphy for Carlin 33, Oisin McGraynor for Maguire 61, Prendergast for O’Keane 62-63 blood, Prendergast for Kirwan 70.
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).
