Nicky Rackard survival "was most important," says Louth joint manager Murphy
Diarmuid Murphy praises his side after defeating Armagh in Newry to secure Nicky Rackard Cup safety
Louth senior hurlers secured their Nicky Rackard Cup status with a hard-earned 3-19 to 3-16 victory over Armagh at Thomas Davis Park, Corrinshego, Newry, this afternoon.
The Wee County looked in control after an impressive opening half, but Armagh surged back after half time to leave the tie hanging in the balance deep into injury time before they finally got over the line.
Joint manager Diarmuid Murphy admitted afterwards that his side knew they needed a sizeable cushion going into the half-time break.
He said: “As we all know, it's a game of two halves, it's hard, it's very hard to defend a lead like that, especially with a strong breeze and a gale-force breeze down the field.
“But look, the boys stood up well. A couple of mistakes, sloppy mistakes that caused a few goals in the second half, but the boys stood up well in the last five minutes.
“You could see the wind. It's about a ten-point game, so you were sort of saying we, to be fair, I didn't think we had enough in us in the first half. We should have had more, but the boys played their hearts out in the second half in fairness.”
The early goals through Ciarán McKelvey and Darren Geoghegan gave Louth real momentum, and Murphy was pleased with the manner in which they were taken.
“We got a great start with the quick-fire goals, didn't even lift them, just striking them to the ground, so they were great. A couple of good points taken as well.
“A few wides, three or four wides in the first half, but free count was a bit suspect as well for the first half and second half, but we'll say no more about that.”
Armagh
With the wind at their backs after half-time, Armagh came back into contention and punished several Louth errors to raise the pressure entering the closing stages.
“They had a few wides in the second half, their second goal, their third goal came from a mistake from Ciarán (McKelvey) up in the corner.
“He was juggling about with the ball, and they just route one that's the way it went and then your man, I think Charlie McArdle got the second goal.
“The third goal was well taken, so you have to be careful all the time with this, but the boys did really well, Aaron (McGuinness) in the back, Andrew (Le Touch-Cosgrave) as well, very good.
“Jake (McNamara) had a good game, Peter (Fortune) caught great ball in the second half as well, so the boys stood up well.”
Louth continued to find scores at key moments to halt Armagh’s momentum, particularly through their half-forward line.
“The game sort of went away from us as well, and Conor was in goals pucking the ball out, and it was straight back to us as well.
“But the half forward line did very well in the second half, scored great ball, and once it went inside, Ciarán (McKelvey) popped over a couple of scores in the second half.
“Darren (Geoghegan) as well and Seán (Flynn) just kept the scoreboard taken over. You'd be sort of, when they get a goal, you were trying to get up the field and get a point and trying to minimise it, but the boys did well.”
The closing moments stretched well beyond the allotted injury time as Armagh chased a late winner.
“It was there for a while; it was five minutes, and then Peter (Fortune) got hit, and he was down, and then there was another two or three minutes on top of that as well, so you're just trying to see the game out.”
Status secured
The result gives the Wee County their second win of the campaign and guarantees their place in the Nicky Rackard Cup for next season.
Murphy admitted afterwards that preserving their status had been the primary objective heading into the tie.
“That was most important, to get two wins out of it and make sure we stay in the Rackard for next year, and we sort of set our stall out today to stay up; that was the good thing.
“We can push on next week, we have a free hit against Mayo next week, which will put us in six points, and we'll see what happens in other games, you wouldn't know what happens.
“The shackles are off, the boys are talking about it coming off the pitch, the shackles are off to have a go next week and see what happens.”