Fermanagh beat Louth

Fermanagh 0-16 Louth 0-7: Allianz Football League Division 3: Fermanagh began their Division Three campaign with a resounding home victory over Louth on Saturday night.

Louth, relegated last year from Division Two, are still coming to terms with the loss of key players Paddy Keenan, Shane Lennon, Andy McDonnell and John O’Brien from last year’s team.

Those departures blunted the visitors, who were comfortably beaten in chilly Brewster Park. Sean Quigley was influential for the hosts and kicked seven points from placed balls.

Fermanagh were 0-4 to 0-2 ahead when Louth were rocked by a black card for Eoin O’Connor.

Louth rallied with two excellent points from Declan Byrne to close the deficit to 0-5 to 0-4, but Fermanagh reeled off four in a row from Ryan Jones, Mulrone and Quigley to lead 0-9 to 0-5 at the break.

Byrne’s fifth point of the tie closed the gap to 0-10 to 0-7 heading into the last quarter.

However Fermanagh hit six unanswered scores from Declan McCusker, Ryan Jones (two), Paul McCusker, Quigley and Ruairi Corrigan to seal an emphatic win.

Scorers for Fermanagh: S Quigley 0-7 (5f, 2 ‘45s’), R Jones 0-3, R Corrigan, B Mulrone 0-2 each, D McCusker, P McCusker 0-1 each

Scorers for Louth: D Byrne 0-5 (2f), E O’Connor 0-1, R Burns 0-1

FERMANAGH: T Treacy; Cassidy, J Allen, M O’Brien; D McCusker, R McCluskey, J McMahon; E Donnelly, R O’Callaghan; B Mulrone, R Jones, P McCusker; R Corrigan, S Quigley, E McManus

Subs: T Corrigan for McManus, M Jones for Allen, A Breen for McCusker, D McQuade for O’Callaghan

LOUTH: N Gallagher; K Toner, P Reilly, D O’Hanlon; D Crilly, P Rath, A Reid; B Donnelly, E O’Connor; B Duffy, C Judge, D Byrne; R Burns, D O’Connor, D Maguire

Subs: R Moore for E O’Connor, C Grimes for Donnelly, C Lynch for Gallagher, J Stewart for Reid, P Kirwan for Maguire, T Durnin for D O’Connor

Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).