Louth book place in Cup semis

Louth 2-7 Dublin 0-9

Second half goals from Mark Stanfield and Cormac Malone steered Louth to a 2-07 to 0-09 O'Byrne Cup SF quarter final win over Dublin at Drogheda this afternoon.

The capital side, once again represented by Paddy Canning's Under-21 outfit, dominated the first half - backed by a stiff breeze - as Kilmacud Crokes forward Mark Vaughan chipped in with five points, four of which were from play, as Dublin led 0-07 to 0-02 at the interval.

Aaron Hoey and Ronan Valentine were Louth's only scorers in the first half, in which the Dubs also had a goal disallowed for Mark Davoren being in the square.

Louth boss Val Andrews - duelling against his native county - fired up his troops for the second half and they took an immediate advantage as Stanfield goaled after 12 minutes.

Bernard Brogan, who was later sin-binned along with Niall Cooper, and Davoren had pointed to helped Dublin back out to a 0-09 to 1-03 lead but Louth soon hauled them in.

Two points from Stanfield, one from Malone - who goaled in the closing stages - and another from Darren Clarke saw Louth through to a semi-final meeting against either Westmeath or Longford next weekend.

MCGRATH CUP MUNSTER FOOTBALL PRELIMINARY ROUND:

Clare 0-11 Cork IT 2-06, Miltown Malbay

KNOCKAIRPORT.COM CONNACHT HURLING LEAGUE:

Section B:

Sligo-Leitrim 2-08 Sligo IT 4-13, Ballinode

Galway 0-05 NUIG 3-13, Dangan