Eager St Patrick’s make no mistake

JUST a touch lucky to get a second chance, St Patrick’s made no mistake in yesterday’s Louth SFC final replay, beating Newtown Blues convincingly at Dundalk.

Having chased the game through most of the first quarter, when the Blues established a two-point lead three times, Pat’s put in a match-winning ten minutes just before the break, turning the deficit into a 1-8 to 0-7 interval lead.

The Drogheda side made a spirited effort to get back into it, closing the gap to a goal, but, Pat’s stayed in front. They scored four points from play, while Blues were confined to just two, scored in the opening ten minutes. Victory gave the Cooley Peninsula side a fourth title in nine years, and coming up in a fortnight’s time is a meeting with Portlaoise in the opening round of the Leinster Club Championship.

Scorers for St Patrick’s: P Keenan 1-2, E O’Connor 0-4, E Carroll 0-3, D O’Connor 0-2, K White 0-1.

Scorers for Newetown Blues: J Kermode, C Judge, H McGinn 0-2 each, C Branagan, J Murray, C Reynolds 0-1 each.

ST PATRICK’S: S Connor; J O’Hare, D Finnegan, D O’Hanlon; R Finnegan, E Breen, O Zamboglou; C Goss, P Keenan; P Mallon, S Hynes, A McCann; E Carroll, E O’Connor, D O’Connor.

Subs: K White for McCann, D MacArtain for Breen, C Grogan for Hynes.

NEWTOWN BLUES: S McCann; T Costello, C Reynolds, A O’Brien; S Moonan, J Carr, E Judge; J Kermode, K Lynch; B Kermode, H McGinn, C Branagan; J Murray, C Judge, A McDonnell.

Subs: I McManus for J Kermode, P Moore for Costello, B Sharkey for Moore, R Carr for McGinn.

Referee: Paul Kneel.