Second-half surge sees Louth hurlers sink Fermanagh

Louth senior hurlers produced a dominant second-half display to cruise past Fermanagh in the second round of the Nicky Rackard Cup this afternoon at Dowdallshill.

It was the third meeting of the sides this year, and for the third time, the Wee County came out on top.

Playing into a strong wind in the first half, Louth trailed 0-11 to 0-7 at the break and looked to be in for a battle.

Referee Conor Daly with Louth captain, Conor Clancy (right), and Fermanagh joint captain, Tom Keenan (left). Picture by Arthur Kinahan)

Fermanagh had the better of the early exchanges, with Danaan McKeogh, Seán Corrigan and Luca McCusker all finding the target.

READ NEXT: Dundalk diamond Egan shines at Madison Square Garden

Trevor Hilliard's men struggled at times to take their scores and shot several wides during that period. But the game flipped on its head in the second half.

Half time: Louth 0-7 Fermanagh 0-11

(Louth's Leon Fox taking on Fermanagh's Caolan Duffy. Picture by Arthur Kinahan)

Seán Flynn got the ball rolling straight after the restart, and it sparked a purple patch where Louth rattled off five unanswered points.

Leon Fox and Conor Murphy were key in that spell, while Brian Corcoran also chipped in. At 0-15 each, the game was still finely poised but then came the game’s turning point.

In the 57th minute, Seán Flynn slipped a pass beyond the Fermanagh goalkeeper, and Darren Geoghegan was on hand to bury it into the empty net. From there, Louth didn’t look back.

(Ben Goss-Kieran of Louth gets away from Fermanagh's Tom Keenan. Picture by Arthur Kinahan)

James Costello and Geoghegan added further points before Leon Fox put the result beyond doubt with Louth’s second goal in the final minute of normal time.

And just to cap it all off, substitute Seaghan Conneely added a third goal in injury time to finish off a delivery from Geoghegan to seal a commanding win.

With one win from two games in the group, Louth now head west next weekend to take on Mayo in a crucial fixture at Castlebar.

Full time: Louth 3-20 Fermanagh 0-15

(Nicky Rackard Cup table)

Louth: Conor Clancy (c); John Casey, Conor Quigley, Stephen Kettle; Mark Gahan, Leon Fox (1-3), Aaron McGuinness (0-1); Ben Goss-Kieran, Seán Hodgins; Conor Murphy (0-4), Paddy Lynch (0-2, 1f), Peter Fortune; Darren Geoghegan (1-5, 4f), Seán Flynn (0-2), Brian Corcoran (0-1).

Substitutes: Thomas McCreesh on for Seán Hodgins (22’), Adam Plunkett on for Brian Corcoran (48'), Michael O'Shea on for Aaron McGuinness (52'), James Costello (0-1) on for Mark Gahan (56'), Seán Conneely (1-0) on for Paddy Lynch (62'), David Stephenson on for Ben Goss-Kieran (74').

Fermanagh: Chris McKernan; Ronan McGurn, Rory Porteous (jc), Odhran Johnstone; Adam O'Shea (0-1), Ryan Bogue, Thomas Duane; Danaan McKeogh (0-5, 5f), Caolan Duffy; Tom Keenan (jc), Seán Corrigan (0-4), Eoin Cleary (0-1); Francis McBrien, Luca McCusker (0-2), Ben Corrigan (0-2).

Substitutes: Seamus Cleary on for Odhran Johnstone (41'), John Duffy on for Eoin Cleary (44'), Jimmy Tormey on for Ben Corrigan (48'), Cahir McManus on for Danaan McKeogh (58'), Ultan O'Reilly on for Thomas Duane (66'), Michael Rafferty on for Tom Keenan (74').

Referee: Conor Daly (Kildare).