Late drama against Cavan as controversial goal dashes Louth hurlers hopes

Louth’s defence of the Lory Meagher Cup came to a controversial end on Saturday afternoon, a late goal from Cavan helping them to a four-point victory.

Up by four points with a little over six minutes to go, The Wee County looked home and hosed and one step closer to a second final appearance in a row, however, Cavan dug deep to land a series of scores to bring the sides level going into injury time.

Then came the game’s most controversial moment, from midfield Brian Fitgerald took on an audacious effort that dropped short of the posts but sadly for Louth it was dropped by their keeper Gery Rellis.

Ronan Byrne seemingly saved his blushes by stopping it before it went over the line, yet after much deliberation by the umpires and a grilling from full-forward Sean Keating the vital goal was crucially awarded, and the home side finished the stronger to book their place in next week’s final.

It was the visitors who took the lead as early as four minutes when Feidhleim Joyce dissected the posts, but overall it was a slow start for the Men in Red who were soon hit with three in a row.

Sean Keating was deployed at the edge of the square for the Breffni Men and he was proving extremely troublesome, Cavan tended to launch everything into him and in the air he was immense as he caught three high balls in a row.

Shortly after the Louth point, Cavan had equalised when Keating won the aerial battle and was duly fouled by Byrne and the resulting free was calmly slotted over by Fitzgerald.

Then came two more long balls into the in-form full forward and both could have easily resulted in goals.

The Pearse Og attacker was firstly denied by Relis who produced a super save that sent that ball over the bar before again from close range Keating turned Byrne but this time he kicked the ball over the bar with the goals at his mercy.

The first bit of refereeing luck fell the way of the home side on eight minutes, in a rare jaunt forward for The Wee County Paul Matthews won a high ball on the edge of the square only to be brought down by Dominic Crudden. The referee Kevin Parke of Antrim sadly waved it off and play continued.

To their credit Louth dug deep and once they had gained a foothold around the centre of the park they were quickly back on level terms and even ahead by 13 minutes.

Now able to get their forwards onto the ball closer to goal, Andrew Mackin pointed twice in quick succession for the Boys in Red, coupled with a monster of a 65 from the sideline from Darren Geoghegan they now led by 0-4 to 0-3.

The sides traded three scores from place balls through their respective sharpshooters of Geoghegan and Fitgerald leaving it all square at 0-5 apiece going into the first water break.

The second quarter was very evenly matched, with both teams wary of making a mistake that could prove costly. After such a high-flying start, the game’s intensity lowered somewhat for the next ten minutes.

They traded four points apiece in this time as the tie became a place shooting contest between Geoghegan and Fitgerald who were both in great form throughout the match but in general, it was always Cavan who had their noses in front and they took a slim 0-10 to 0-9 lead into the break.

From the restart, Louth showed their intent with Joyce winning the throw-in before soloing in for his second point of the afternoon.

Two in quick succession from Fitzgerald and Jack Barry saw them regain the lead on 36 minutes, but points from Louth were never far away. Three in a row from Geoghegan and Mark Gahan had the Wee County back in front.

By the second water break the sides were deadlocked at 0-14 apiece, however, a red wave was looming, and Louth would outscore their opponents in the next ten minutes by 0-5 to 0-1 to take control of the semi-final.

The Wee County were finally at their lethal best, completely dominating the midfield sector and effectively camping the home side in their own half.

They’d win the breaking ball from Cavan puck outs before soloing in at pace to tee up anyone they found with space to shoot.

McCormack has never hidden the fact he likes to use his panel and is not afraid to make some early changes if he feels it can make the difference. He had made four changes less than five minutes into the second half and made five in total, all of which contributed with scores in this purple patch.

James Costelloe, David Kettle, Seaghan Conneely, Thomas McCreesh and Gahon all pointed to turn a one-point deficit into a four-point lead. Another few minutes of this dominance and it would have been game over for the Breffni Men.

They did have chances to increase this lead, but opportunities for Costelloe and Matthews went wide while another attempt from Gahon dropped short leaving the door open for Cavan.

Keating (2), Cillian Sheanon and Fitgerald all raised white flags to draw the home side level going into injury time, then came the controversial goal which opened up a three-point cushion they never relinquished.

There could have been more drama late on when Matthews fired a bullet towards goal seconds after Fitzgerald had found the net, however, this was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Darren Sheridan.

Louth threw everything at their opponents, but it was Cavan who ultimately ended up adding to their lead, two more scores rounding off a day to remember for all associated with Hurling in their county.

Louth: Gary Relis; Matthew Fee, Ronan Byrne, Andrew Smith; Conor Quigley, Jamie McDonnell, Peter Fortune; Seanie Crosbie, Feidhleim Joyce (0-2); Ryan Walsh, Darren Geoghegan (0-8,0-4 free, 0-2 65), Niall Keenan; Paul Matthews(0-1), Andrew Mackin(0-3), Sean Kerrisk. Subs: James Costello (0-1) for Walsh (27), Seaghan Conneely (0-1) for Keenan (HT), David Kettle (0-1) for Crosbie (39), Mark Gahon (0-2) for Kerrisk (43), Thomas McCreesh (0-1) for Mackin (58).

Cavan: Darren Sheridan; Neasan Neary, Dominic Crudden, Mark Moffett; Anthony Sheridan, Jack Barry (0-1), Shane Briody; Matthew Hynes, Cillian Sheanon (0-2); Philip Brady (0-2), Diarmaid Carney (0-1), Colum Sheanon, Brian Fitzgerald(1-9,0-8 Free), Sean Keating (0-5), Caoimhín Carney. Subs: Fiachra Hughes for Colum Sheanon (40), Enda Shalvey for C Carney (50), Kevin Conneely (0-1) for D Carney (62).

Referee: Kevin Parke (Antrim)