Comfortable victories for Donegal and Louth

Nicky Rackard Cup champions Donegal got their campaign back on track in Letterkenny on Saturday when they easily overcame Monaghan,3-26 to 0-15, to secure a quarter-final place against Louth next weekend.

A Ciarán Mathewson goal helped Donegal to build a 1-6 to 0-0 lead after just 13 minutes and they went on to lead 1-16 to 0-5 at half-time, with all six forwards getting on the scoresheet, while further goals from Danny Cullen and Seán McVeigh added to their tally in the second half. Conor Boyle led the Monaghan resistance with 11 points.

Louth will prove a much tougher test for Ray Durack’s side after they recorded a similarly comfortable 4-19 to 0-9 win over Sligo at Dowdallshill. Leading scorer Keith Raymond was suspended for Sligo and his scoring power was sorely missed as Louth struck four first-half goals and led 4-9 to 0-1 at the interval.

Davy Mahony (twice) David Kettle and Shane Maguire struck goals for the Wee County. While Sligo’s fortunes improved with the aid of the wind in the second half, they still couldn’t contain Louth’s free-scoring attack, led by Diarmuid Murphy who scored 0-8.