Louth hurlers suffer late heartbreak against Armagh

Requiring a victory to keep alive their hopes of progressing further in the Nicky Rackard Cup, the Louth hurlers suffered late late heartbreak when substitute Stephen Keenan fired home from close range in injury time to give the Orchard men the most dramatic of victories in this entertaining clash played at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Saturday afternoon. 

The scenes of jubilation that were witnessed in Croke Park on Sunday were in stark contrast to those among Louth hurling supporters at the final whistle on this occasion.

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The home side was quick into their stride, with their midfield pairing of Harvey and Renaghan firing over early points from play.

Peter McKearney was quickest to react to the sliotar rebounding off an upright as he fired past keeper Conor Clancy on seven minutes.

Darren Geoghegan opened the visitors' account when she fired over a free from the right wing on nine minutes, which was added to almost immediately by a good point from man of the match contender Mark Gahan, who fired over from distance.

Louth reduced the deficit to one point by the quarter hour with good points from Ben Goss, Kieran and Conor Murphy, 0-4 to 1-2. The sides exchanged the next two points before a brace of points from Shea Harvey left three between the teams. 

Leon Fox replied with one for his team before the home side opened up a four-point advantage for themselves with points from Harvey and Joe O Connor, 1-7 to 0-6.

Louth finished the half strongly, outscoring their opponents by four points to one, with the Naomh Moninne pair of Geoghegan and Gahan accounting for two a piece as they trailed at the break by 0-10 to 1-8.

An early free from Harvey saw Armagh extend their lead on the resumption however, Trevor Hilliard's charges were quickly back on terms with successive points from Fox and Geoghegan.

The visitors went in front for the first time in this match when Sean Flynn set up Fox for a close-range point on 40 minutes. 

The lead again changed hands by 47 minutes when Charlie McArdle and Ciaran Duffy pointed from play before parity was again restored when Conor Murphy earned a free which Geoghegan fired over from 60 metres, 0-14 to 1-11.

The sides shared the next four points before a 25 metre Geoghegan free and a third of the half from Leon Fox had Louth in front by 0-18 to 1-13 on 62 minutes.

Shea Harvey and Conor Murphy then exchanged points, with the latter's score a beauty from long range.

Murphy almost scored for the visitors when his effort from the right of the post was well saved by keeper Paddy Kelly at the expense of a 65. Unfortunately, Darren Geoghegan's effort dropped short, one he was to rue.

As the game moved into injury time, Armagh managed to cut the deficit to one when defender Barry Shortt pointed from inside his own half.

Three minutes into the added time, the home side launched one last attack and as the Louth defence failed to clear, the substitute Keenan pounced from close range for a killer goal to break Louth's hearts. 

Armagh: Paddy Kelly; Stephen O Keeffe, Tiarnan Nevin, Niall Lennon; Odhran Curry, Ciaran Duffy (0-2), Barry Shortt (0-1); Shea Harvey (0-7, 5f), Conor Renaghan (0-1); Peter McKearney (1-1), Shea Gaffney, Charlie McArdle (0-1); Pauric McNaughton (0-1), Joe O Connor (0-1), Daire Harvey.

Subs: Stephen Keenan (1-0) for C McArdle (51), Tomas Galvin for J O Connor (56), Aaron Cullinane for P McNaughton (56), Eoin McGuinness for C Renaghan (67), Kane Laverty for D Harvey (68).

Louth: Conor Clancy; John Casey, Conor Quigley, Stephen Kettle; Adam Plunkett, Leon Fox (0-4), Aaron McGuinness Smith; Ben Goss Kieran (0-1), Conor Murphy (0-2); Paddy Lynch, Sean Hodgins, Thomas McCreesh; Darren Geoghegan (0-8, 7f), Sean Flynn, Mark Gahan (0-4).

Subs: Seaghan Conneely for P Lynch (63), Micháel O Shea for M Gahan (68), James Costello for C Quigley (69).

Referee: Kevin Parke (Antrim).