Down end Louth's unbeaten run

Down 1-13 Louth 1-12

Louth's six-game unbeaten run came to an end at Pairc Esler, where a superb penalty save by Brendan McVeigh denied Shane Lennon what would surely have been a match-winning goal five minutes from the end of a cracker.

Down looked in trouble when the Wee County pulled two points ahead with seven minutes to play, but Daniel Hughes banged in a goal, and goalkeeper McVeigh completed the rescue act by diving to his right to keep out Lennon's spot kick.

Louth went into the game unbeaten, and probably deserved something from this derby clash in front of a crowd of 4,500 at Newry.

McVeigh's match-winning stop came just two minutes after Daniel Hughes had banged in a 63rd goal for the Mourne men.

With White pulling the strings in midfield, Louth performed with confidence in the opening quarter, easing ahead with scores from Shane Lennon, White and Paraic Smith.

But John Fegan, Aidan Carr and Brendan McArdle kept the home side in touch, and the sides were level on four occasions in the opening 20 minutes.

The game swung decidedly in Down's favour in the final five minutes of the half when Louth lost two key defenders to yellow cards, Michael Fanning rather harshly ordered to follow Colin Goss to the line.

Carr, with two frees, and Daniel Hughes rattled off the final three scores to send the Mourne men in with a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage.

But both sides could have had goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Benny Coulter had a fisted goal disallowed for a square ball infringement, while Smith brought a superb save from Down goalkeeper Brendan McVeigh.

Louth made an inspired start to the second half, and went in front with a Smith goal in the 45th minute.

White continued to strike accurately from frees, with Coulter hitting a couple of gems in response.

And Down struck a crucial blow seven minutes from the end when Daniel Hughes picked up Coulter's flick to blast in a goal.

They still needed goalkeeper McVeigh's heroics with a superb penalty save from Shane Lennon.

Down: B McVeigh, C McGovern, P Murphy, L Howard, A Carr (0-3, 3f), K McKernan, C Garvey, J Lynch, S Kearney (0-1), B McArdle (0-1), C Maginn, J Fegan (0-2), J O'Reilly, D Hughes (1-2), B Coulter (0-4).

Subs: J Boyle for O'Reilly (blood, 32-h-t), D Rafferty for McKernan (yellow card, 46), P McCumiskey for O'Reilly (47), D Gordon for Lynch (50), J Boyle for Maginn (53), C Magee for McArdle (61)

Louth: S Reynolds, J O'Brien, D Finnegan, C Goss, P Rath, M Fanning, G Hoey, R Carroll, B White (0-6, 5f), A Reid, S Lennon (0-3, 1f), D Reid (0-1), JP Rooney (0-1), D Crilly, P Smith (1-1).

Subs: R Finnegan for Goss (yellow card, 32), B McArdle for Fanning (yellow card, 34), A Hoey for Smith (61), D Maguire for D Reid (70),

Referee: T Quigley (Dublin).