Louth U20s secure their place in the Leinster Championship knockout stage
Wicklow 1-19 Louth 0-27
The Louth U20 footballers secured their passage into the knockout stages of the Leinster Championship following a comprehensive victory over Wicklow on a beautiful spring evening in Baltinglass on Wednesday evening.
Having comfortably defeated Longford in Round 1 last week, the young Louth men knew that a victory over the hosts would guarantee them top spot as well as a place in the quarter-finals in a fortnight's time.
The Wee County made a blistering start to the game, playing with the aid of a strong crossfield wind, with midfielder James Maguire raising a white flag straight from the throw-in.
Tony McDonnell added another ninety seconds later before Adam Gillespie kicked the first two-pointer of the game to make it 0-4 to no score by the fourth minute.
Ryan Harrison kicked Wicklow’s opening point in the sixth minute before Louth responded with a flurry of scores. McDonnell kicked another two-pointer along with points from Darragh Dorian and Gillespie to stretch their lead to seven by the twelfth minute.
Paudie Cavanagh kicked a place ball for the Garden County before Gillespie sandwiched raised a further two orange flags between a Shane Lennon score from play to give the visitors a 0-13 to 0-2 lead by the twentieth minute.
The young Louthmen would continue to use the strong breeze to their advantage, notching a further two two-pointers before the end of the half from the boots of Tony and Tadgh McDonnell.
Wicklow managed further scores from Brian Hurley and Mark Kinsella to leave the scoreboard reading 0-19 to 0-5 at the interval in favour of the visitors. In a carbon copy of the throw-in in the first half, midfielder James Maguire kicked a point straight from the restart before Ryan Harrison responded for the hosts.
Tony McDonnell added another to his tally to stretch the gap to fifteen before Wicklow began their fight back with the aid of the breeze. Patrick Small and Ryan Harrison kicked two quick-fire orange flags before Éanna Nolan passed up a goal chance to narrow the gap even further.
In the forty-first minute, Adam Gillespie and Ryan Harrison traded points to have the game at double scores, 0-22 to 0-11. Paidí Kavanagh scored from a tight angle before points from Pearse Grimes Murphy and Shane Lennon quashed the Wicklow resurgence.
In the fifty-first minute, a two-pointer from Harrison kept the hosts alive before McDonnell and Maguire added two from play for Louth to keep Wicklow at arm's length with three minutes to play.
As the clock ticked into the red, Wicklow burst into life with a stunning two-pointer coming from the boot of Aaron O’Brien. Then, from the kick-out, James Healy burst through on goal before being fouled on his way, resulting in a penalty for the Wicklow men.
Paidí Kavanagh dispatched the penalty before Patrick Small added another two-pointer in what was the final act of the game. Fergal Reel’s men will now look forward to a two-week break as Wicklow face a must-win game against Longford.
Wicklow scorers: Ryan Harrison 0-7 (4 45, 2 2P), Paidí Kavanagh 1-1 (1 PEN, 1F), Brian Hurley 0-2, Patrick Small 0-4 (2 2P), Aaron O’Brien 0-2 (1 2P) Mark Kinsella 0-1.
Wicklow: Adam O’Leary, Joe Kindlon, Adam Kinsella, James Fleming, James Boland, Aaron O’Brien, Cian Deering, Jack Hardy, Mark Kinsella (Eddie Cullen 57), Ryan Harrison, Brian Hurley (Thomas Tisdall 45), Patrick Small, Éanna Nolan, Alex Kavanagh (James Healy 57), Paidí Kavanagh.
Louth scorers: Adam Gillespie 0-9 (2P, 2 2P F, 1F) Tony McDonnell 0-9 (0-4 2P F) Shane Lennon 0-2, Tadgh McDonnell 0-2 (2P), Dylan Shevlin 0-1, Pearse Grimes-Murphy 0-1.
Louth: Tiarnan Markey, Padric Tinnelly, Cormac McKeown, Michael Reid (Diarmuid Reilly 57), Tadgh McDonnell (Ben McKeown 57), Keelin Martin, Conor McGinty, Sean Callaghan, James Maguire, Shane Lennon, Conor Mac Croista (Ronan Deery 57), Pearse Grimes-Murphy, Adam Gillespie, Tony McDonnell, Darragh Dorian (Dylan Shevlin 52).
Referee: Ian Howley (Dublin).