Louth punish Fermanagh to leave Division 2 status in their own hands

A half dozen well taken but punishing goals from Louth against Fermanagh was enough to leave Division 2 status in their own hands heading into the final weekend of league action.

The feeble visitors were creators of their own downfall and Louth were in no mood for charity in the basement battle. Once again it was Sam Mulroy that inflicted the most damage. Two majors in the first half along with corner back Peter Lynch and Conor Grimes.

While Blues attacker Ciarán Downey and Tom Jackson wrapped up the one sided affair with two majors in the second period. Fermanagh opted to aggressively press goalkeeper Ross Bogue up the field, and at time had both Cullen’s in the opposing full back line during open play.

With Kieran Donnelly’s side so exposed, Louth did not have to work for their openings but were clinical nonetheless. The Erne side high wire act was waiting to be caught out and Ger Brennan’s side were primed to do so.

Talisman Mulroy learned from his team mates near misses beforehand to intercept a raking back pass and compose himself to shoot from distance into an open net.

Helplessness from Fermanagh was stemmed as they responded well initially with a steadying four on the trot from half backs Declan McCusker and Shane McGullion.

The two blazed over half chances but Louth were finally converting any sniff of a goal the other end. A stark contrast to Meath and Cavan shot taking.

Roche’s Peter Lynch ran forward for the second at the back post while Mulroy rattled home the third directly from their own aggressively pressed kick out.

Joint top scores on the day for the boys in Green, Garvan Jones and Seán Cassidy tried to keep things honest either side of half time but Conor Grimes lashed home before the short whistle to make it 4-6 to 0-6.

Basement battles are usually fraught and the script was never meant to go as wild but the goals lifted the tension and Louth exhaled and oozed confidence while Fermanagh were already thinking of a reaction performance against Cavan next weekend.

With Ciarán Downey back after suspension and jettisoned into a new midfield role, he thrived. Dictating the entire second half in open play his goal summed up his attitude. Opting not to take a mark, Downey ran on and buried Louth’s fifth goal.

And from the restart, Tom Jackson got in on the act after Fermanagh gifted the Ardee man possession and he drilled home low past Bogue on home soil.

Both UU Sigerson winners, Josh Largo Elis and Ronan McCaffrey were withdrawn and their replacements Fionan O’Brien and Diarmuid King found the range in the one sided affair.

Ciarán ‘Kiki’ Keenan revelled in the broken play as Ger Brennan’s side will now march on to Netwatch Cullen Park with supreme optimism of escaping the drop against Kildare.

Louth: Niall McDonnell; Donal McKenny, Dermot Campbell (0-01), Peter Lynch (1-01); Leonard Grey, Anthony Williams, Conall McKeever; Ciarán Downey (1-03), Tommy Durnin (0-01); Ciarán Murphy, Ciarán Keenan (0-03), Conor Grimes (1-02); Ryan Burns (0-01), Sam Mulroy (2-05, 0-02f), Tom Jackson (1-00)

Subs: Liam Jackson for T Jackson (51) Dan Corcoran for McKenny (51) Wayne Campbell for Murphy (59), Jay Hughes for Burns (63), Niall Sharkey for Grey (66)

Fermanagh: Ross Bogue; Lee Cullen, Ché Cullen, Oisín Smyth; Declan McCusker (0-01), Shane McGullion (0-01), Ronan McCaffrey; Brandon Horan, Joe McDade; Conor McGee, Conor McShea, Josh Largo Elis; Ultan Kelm (0-01), Garvan Jones (0-03, 0-03f), Seán Cassidy (0-03, 0-01f).

Subs: Fionan O’Brien (0-01) for Elis (ht), Diarmuid King (0-01) for McCaffrey (44), James McMahon for McCusker (51) Conor Love for Jones (51) Jonathan Cassidy for Smyth (68)

Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone)