Louth 0-27
Offaly 2-15
LOUTH HAVE ADVANCED to the Leinster senior football final for the first time since 2010 after a thrilling extra-time win over Offaly.
Mickey Harte’s side made hard work of it, but eventually saw off the spirited Faithful county at Croke Park.
Ciarán Downey and Sam Mulroy were among Louth’s leading lights through this marathon, helter-skelter battle; the attacking duo combining for 0-13. All but two Mulroy free-kicks of Louth’s 0-27 came from open play, and the Wee county had 10 different scorers as their remarkable rise continues.
Offaly, led by Martin Murphy after the recent sudden death of Liam Kearns, put up one hell of a fight. Goals from the excellent Peter Cunningham and Declan Hogan epitomised their spirit, but after their 74th-minute equaliser through Anton Sullivan, Louth ultimately had too much in extra-time.
They will face either Dublin or Kildare in the decider, while it’s destination Tailteann Cup for Offaly.
A frantic first half in HQ set the tone for the afternoon, the scoreline 0-9 to 1-6 at the break. Just when the favourites looked to be edging ahead, Cunningham’s 28th-minute goal drew Offaly level. Downey hit 0-5 from play for the Wee county in a superb opening-half showing. He finished with 0-7.
Both sides made fast starts and were neck-and-neck early on, but Louth had themselves in a 0-5 to 0-3 lead after 15 minutes. Downey, Dylan McKeown and Conor Grimes worked their magic before the posts as twin towers Tommy Durnin and Conor Early led the high press on Ian Duffy’s kick-out.
Dylan Hyland was Offaly’s main scoring outlet, with Nigel Dunne and roving centre-back Cunningham chipping in with fine offerings.
Just as the pace settled down, Cunningham sparked the game back to life, raised a green flag and made it 1-5 to 0-8 just before the half-hour mark. The Faithful county went direct from the kick-out, Anton Sullivan blazing a trail before handing off to Cunningham to hammer home.
The electric Downey and Dunne (free) traded scores before the interval, while James Califf did well to cut out another Offaly goal chance. At the other end, Declan Hogan produced an excellent block to stop a Mulroy pointed effort. It epitomised a frustrating first half for Louth’s big hitter, who was forced to play more of a decoy role and had two other disappointing wides.
Mulroy did get off the mark with a 13-yard free — perhaps questionably awarded — on the restart, cancelling out Ruairí McNamee’s effort into Hill 16. Cian Farrell and McNamee pushed Offaly into a two-point lead by the 48th minute, before Louth hit the next six on the spin to move 0-16 to 1-9 clear.
McNamee pulled one back, but Downey pointed another and it looked like Louth would put the game to bed on the hour-mark. An extraordinary double-stop from Duffy and a dramatic goal-line clearance (shades of 2010) kept the green flag down — and Offaly in the game at 0-17 to 1-10.
The Faithful county hit the next four scores to pull the game out of the fire and force extra time. Louth didn’t register again in normal time amidst no shortage of errors and bad wides from both sides, while Farrell (free), Hyland (two) and Sullivan’s superb, last-gasp equaliser completed a huge turnaround — 0-17 to 1-14.
Louth, and Mulroy, had one of their own in the first period extra time. Their captain caught fire with four outstanding points from play. Bill Carroll drew first blood for Offaly, but Mulroy magic along with two more scores from Grimes and Early had Louth 0-23 to 1-15 ahead at the midpoint of the additional minutes.
Offaly had one more roll of the dice as two exhausted outfits went again. Captain and full-back Hogan buried a goal to reduce the deficit to two just after they rattled the crossbar.
But Louth made no mistake in seeing the game out on this occasion. One from Niall Sharkey, brilliant back-to-back points from Craig Lennon and a Mulroy free sealed the deal and secured their first Leinster final spot since the infamous 2010 loss to Meath.
And just their second since 1960.
Scorers for Louth: Ciarán Downey 0-7, Sam Mulroy 0-6 (2f), Dylan McKeown, Conor Grimes, Tommy Durnin, Liam Jackson, Niall Sharkey, Craig Lennon, all 0-2, Conor Early and Niall Sharkey both 0-1.
Scorers for Offaly: Dylan Hyland 0-5 (1f), Peter Cunningham 1-1, Declan Hogan 1-0, Ruairí McNamee 0-3 (1f), Nigel Dunne (1f), Cian Farrell (1f) both 0-2, Anton Sullivan and Bill Carroll both 0-1.
Louth
1. James Califf (Dreadnots)
2. Dan Corcoran (Geraldines), 3. Ciarán Murphy (St Patrick’s), 4. Donal McKenny (St Mary’s, Ardee)
5. Leonard Grey (St Patrick’s), 6. Niall Sharkey (Raonaire Gluide), 7. Conall McKeever (Clan Na Gael)
8. Tommy Durnin (Inniskeen Grattas), 9. Conor Early (Na Fianna, Dublin)
19. Ciarán Keenan (St Mary’s, Ardee), 11. Sam Mulroy (Naomh Mairtín — captain), 12. Conor Grimes (Glen Emmets)
24. Dylan McKeown (Dundalk Gaels), 14. Ciarán Downey (Newtown Blues), 25. Paul Matthews (St Feichin’s)
Subs
13. Daire McConnon (St Mary’s, Ardee) for Ciarán Keenan (31)
10. Liam Jackson (St Mary’s Ardee) for Paul Matthews (HT)
20. Craig Lennon (St Mochta’s) for Dylan McKeown (HT)
23. Peter Lynch (Roche Emmetts) for Ciarán Murphy (45)
26. Anthony Williams (Dreadnots) for Connall McKeever (64)
21. Conall McCaul (St Joseph’s) for Dáire McConnon (ET)
15. Ryan Burns (St Mary’s, Ardee) for Liam Jackson (ET)
10. Jackson for Donal McKenny (ET+15)
3. Murphy for Leonard Grey (ET+17)
Offaly
1. Ian Duffy (Walsh Island)
2. Lee Pearson (Edenderry), 3. Declan Hogan (Tullamore — captain), 4. David Dempsey (Ballycommon)
5. Cian Donohoe (St Brigid’s), 6. Peter Cunningham (Bracknagh), 7. Ciarán Donnelly (Bracknagh)
8. Jack McEvoy (Clonbullogue), 9. Conor McNamee (Rhode)
10. Cian Farrell (Edenderry), 11. Ruairí McNamee (Rhode), 12. Anton Sullivan (Rhode)
13. Dylan Hyland (Raheen), 14. Nigel Dunne (Shamrocks), 15. Jamie Evans (Gracefield)
Subs
18. Joe Maher (Ferbane) for Jamie Evans (49)
17. Bill Carroll (Cappincur) for Nigel Dunne (56)
22. Aaron Leavy (Tullamore) for Conor McNamee (56)
19. Jack Bryant (Shamrocks) for Jack McEvoy (64)
25. Luke Egan (Tullamore) for Anton Sullivan (ET)
26. Nigel Bracken (Tullamore) for Cian Donohoe (ET)
24. Shane O’Toole Greene (Shamrocks) for Ciarán Donnelly (ET+9)
12. Sullivan for Dylan Hyland (ET+10)
21. Aaron Brazil for Peter Cunningham (ET+11)
Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).
