Carroll secures Louth’s final berth

Louth 2-10 UCD 0-15

Two goals in a minute early in the second quarter extended the Louth lead to nine points, and the Wee county, it seemed, didn’t have much more to do after that to qualify for a third successive O’Byrne Cup final.

But before making it safely through to a meeting with Kildare next weekend, they had to withstand a spirited UCD comeback, which might well have won the students a place in the final had Kevin McGourty’s shot not been brilliantly saved by Sean Connor minutes from full-time.

Still, UCD had real hopes of at least forcing a hugely entertaining game into extra-time when their top scorer, Rob Kelly, pointed a minute later to bring the sides level.

Both sides would have settled for another 20 minutes at that point, but there was more than that in it for Louth. Taking a pass on the run, midfielder Ronan Carroll scythed his way through the UCD defence, and just as he had done three times earlier, the Ardee St Mary’s clubman popped the ball over the bar.

Louth manager, Peter Fitzpatrick, who confirmed he is to seek the Fine Gael nomination for the forthcoming election, gave his side a vote of confidence, despite the near disastrous collapse.

“We kept plugging away. We made five changes from the last game, and I’m delighted we’ve qualified for another final,” he said.

Scorers for Louth: S Lennon 1-2, R Carroll 0-4, M Brennan 1-0, P Keenan 0-3, D Maguire 0-1.

Scorers for UCD: R Kelly 0-5, C Lyng 0-4, J McLoughlin 0-2, T Warburton, J Heslin, D Larkin, J Cocoman 0-1 each.

LOUTH: S Connor; G Hoey, A Hoey, R Greene; R Finnegan, D Crilly, L Shevlin; P Keenan, R Carroll; D Byrne, A Reid, B Donnelly; M Brennan, S Lennon, D Maguire.

Subs: J Murray for Byrne; E McAuley for Shevlin; P Rath for Greene.

UCD: M Savage; J Hayes, C Ford, M Fitzsimmons; C Brady, S Redmond, T Warburton; K McGourty, J Heslin; J McLoughlin, C Kenny, L Smith; C Lyng, R Kelly, D Larkin.

Subs: J Cocoman for Smith; M McGowan for Warburton.

Referee: S O’Carroll (Weatmeath).