Louth GAA club | Moninne progress to SHL final

Naomh Moninne have set up a repeat of the recent Championship Final when they qualified for the 2025 Louth Senior Hurling League final against St Fechins thanks to this narrow victory over Knockbridge at Pairc Ui Chuinnigh last Thursday night.

All three teams finished level on points on the table with score difference determining the two finalists, Naomh Moninne +1, St Fechins 0 and Knockbridge -1.

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Things could have been so different if Knockbridge free taker Aidan Fitzpatrick had scored from a late free to give his side the draw they required, only to see his free going wide.

The Dundalk side took advantage with Darren Geoghegan firing over an injury-time free to give his side the two-point victory they needed to secure the final berth. The first half was a lively affair with the sides tied at five points apiece after ten minutes.

Among the scores for the home side were James Costello, David Kettle and Robert Wallace. Contributing two good points from play for Moninne was Fionn Cumiskey.

Five points from Darren Geoghegan, another brace from Cumiskey and one from Conor Murphy helped Moninne to lead by 0-13 to 0-11 at the break.

Costello took his personal tally for the half to three points, with Gareth Hall also grabbing one for the village outfit.

The opening seven minutes of the second half saw Moninne extending their lead to six points thanks to successive points from Conor Murphy, Geoghegan, Cummiskey and John Casey, before Aidan Fitzpatrick fired over a welcome free for the home side.

Another Geoghegan free and one from play from Aaron McGuinness Smith had Moninne now leading by 0-21 to 0-13 with ten minutes remaining.

Knockbridge then showed their fighting spirit, and after Fitzpatrick knocked over another point, they cut the deficit to just four points when Ronan Byrne grabbed the game's only goal from close range after Conor Whyte had made a good initial save.

Following further points from Fitzpatrick and Robert Wallace (2), only one point now separated the teams as the game went into added time.

Knockbridge should have tied up matters only for Fitzpatrick to fire a late free wide of the post, and from the resultant puck out, the visitors won a free on the left wing, which Darren Geoghegan fired over to seal the win.

The final is fixed for Thursday, September 25, at a venue TBC.

Naomh Moninne: Conor Whyte; Darren O Hanrahan, Mattie Fee, Kyle Rafferty; Seán Magill, Gavin Baxter, James Murphy; Darren Geoghegan (0-11, 10f), Michael O'Shea; Fionn Cumiskey (0-5), Tom O'Dwyer, John Casey (0-2); Conor Murphy (0-2), Mark Gahan, Aaron McGuinness Smith (0-2).

Subs: Conor Caraher for Seán Magill, Tadhg Dowdall for John Casey.

Knockbridge: Mark Wallace; Daire McKiernan, Brian Coughlan, James Searson; Ronan Mulholland, Stephen Kettle, Andrew Smyth; Jake McNamara, James Costello (0-3); Robert Wallace (0-3), Gareth Hall (0-1), Aidan Fitzpatrick (0-8); Dara Toner, Ronan Byrne (1-0), David Kettle (0-2).

Subs: Stephen Hoey, Aidan O Brien and Rory McConnell.

Referee: Patrick Collins (Monaghan).