Louth GAA Round Up | Division 3

Oliver Plunketts 2-22 John Mitchels 0-1

Oliver Plunketts clinched the Louth Division 3A title with a comprehensive victory away to John Mitchels on Sunday afternoon. 

Just a week after losing to the Ballybailie men in the Junior Championship quarter-final, the Mell side made no mistake this time around to secure the win they needed to book a return to Division 2 football.

Having caused an upset previous week, the Mitchels came into the game with nothing at stake in terms of the league and that was reflected in a performance that lacked the intensity of the previous outing.

For the Plunketts, the victory brought the season to an end on a positive note and it certainly was a fine team display on a day when they had 13 different scorers. The visitors may have gone into the game with some nerves but they were soon settled as they took a grip on proceedings.

Their domination was rewarded when they established a 1-15 to no score advantage at the half time break with Shaun Smith scoring the opening goal of the game.

They continued to control the game after the restart and added a second goal through sub Adam Lambe as they celebrated their title win, with Robbie Coyle hitting the target for the much-changed Mitchels.

Oliver Plunketts: Luke Haggans 0-2; Cillian Matthews, David McTaggert, Gary Keogh 0-1; Jamie Byrne 0-1, Dean Carolan 0-1, Barry Reynolds; Shaun Smith 1-0, Stephen Keeley 0-1; David Lambe, Sean Callaghan 0-4, Luke Carley 0-1; Adam Smith 0-4, Cian Matthews 0-2, Kristian Nolan 0-3.

Subs: Colm Duffy for L Haggans, Adam Lambe 1-1 for B Reynolds, Niall Murtagh for D Lambe, Robbie Brodigan 0-1 for S Callaghan, Cillian Smith for G Keogh.

John Mitchels: Mickey Quinn; Barry Kirk, Emmet Farrell, Leigh Ross; Keith Durnin, Liam Devitt, James Sands; Aaron Keely, Stevie Coyle; Diarmuid Durnin, James Clarke, Stephen Bingham; Josh Durnin, Daniel Carroll, Robbie Coyle 0-1.

Subs: Peter Tenanty for J Durnin, Stephen Murphy for D Carroll, Jamie Durning for K Durnin, Tristan Knowles for S Bingham, Mikey Nulty for L Devitt.

Na Piarsaigh 0-10 O’Connells 0-9

O'Connells closed out their Division 3A league campaign with a loss against Na Piarsaigh at the Grove on Sunday morning.

The hosts went into the game needing a win to keep alive their hopes of claiming the league title ahead of Oliver Plunketts but with the Mell side also winning, this result mattered little. Despite the victory, Na Piarsaigh were unable to avoid the relegation play-off.

Jackie Agnew opened the scoring for the home side and a couple of minutes later Robert Quigley added a second point to the scoreboard. Agnew got his second of the game and his team’s third after 15 minutes.

The visitors got their first point of the game from Jamie Fealy with an excellent sideline kick. Quigley got his second point of the game to leave three between the sides but a point from Stephen McGuinness reduced the margin to two.

Points from Quigley and Cailum Woods left four between the teams but a free from Fealy was the last score of the half to leave the score at the break 0-6 to 0-3.

The Bellingham side made a few changes for the second half and two points from frees from Fealy and David Boyle left one between the sides. Quigley got the first point of the second half for O’Connells but a point from Ciaran Murphy kept the margin to the minimum.

The sides shared the next two points from Quigley and McGuinness and a minute later the teams were level 0-8 each when Fealy put over another free.

The Rock Road side were in ascendancy at this stage and points from frees from Conal Myles and Fealy’s fifth score of the game saw them take a two point lead with less than two minutes to go.

Bernard Osborne got the last point of the game but it was not enough to stop the Naps winning their last game of the league.

Na Piarsaigh: Aidan Marks; Shane Roddy, Eoin Farrell, Chris Kellett; Tommy Muckian, Joe Woods, Stephen McGuinness 0-2; Mark O’Hare, Conal Myles 0-1; Ciaran Murphy 0-1, Michael Woods, Fionn Tipping; Jamie Fealy 0-5, David Boyle 0-1, Jarlath Lyons.

Subs: Robbie O’Hanlon, Seamus Gonnelly, Sean Connolly.

O’Connells: John Brennan; Adam Flynn, Conor Byrne, Liam Kiernan; Justin Cooney, Stuart Osborne, Evan Kearney; Ciaran O’Brien, Cailum Woods 0-1; Harry Kierans, Robert Quigley 0-5, Alan McGovern; Bernard Osborne 0-1, Jackie Agnew 0-2, Sean Geeney.

Subs: Cathal O’Brien for A. McGovern, TJ Conlon for S. Osborne, Sean Cairns for J. Agnew, Jake Kearney for C. Byrne, Tadgh Kearney for R. Quigley.

Glyde Rangers 3-14 Naomh Fionnbarra 0-11

Glyde Rangers finished their league season on a high after scoring a comfortable win over Nh Fionnbarra at John Markey Park on Sunday afternoon. The result means that the Tallanstown men finished clear of the relegation place as they chalked up a fifth win of the campaign.

The damage was done in the first half as the visitors took complete command of the game and rattled in three goals to lead by 3-10 to 0-4 at half time.

The Barrs did fight back in the second half but it was a case of damage limitation at that stage. Ciaran Murphy top-scored for the hosts with five points, while Conor Boyle, James Butterly and Ronan McCreesh were also on target.

Naomh Fionnbarra: Colin McGrane; Sean Kearney, James Butterly (0-1), Tom Ward; Ben Turley, Sean Boyle, Ronan McCreesh (0-1); Michael McArdle (0-1), Cormac McArdle (0-1); Ciaran Murphy (0-5) Conor Osborne, Conor Boyle (0-1); Liam Woods, Mairtin Murphy (0-1), James Luckie.