Newtown Blues and St Mochta's play out dramatic draw in Louth SFC final

Newtown Blues and St Mochta's will have to do it all again.

Louth SFC final: Newtown Blues 1-15 St. Mochta's 1-15 

With four unanswered dead balls from Declan Byrne, St. Mochta’s levelled their second ever county final against Newtown Blues in dramatic fashion.

Kevin McGlorey and Benny Coulter are coaching the Louth village outfit and they will both feel relieved to get another crack at the Louth kingpins.

Blues will feel they left it behind them as one side usually feels after a drawn final. They weren’t as wasteful as their novel opponents but lead by five on two occasions in the second period.

All-Star nominee Ciaran Downey did have a free to win the Joe Ward himself but it was from a long distance out with the showpiece’s last kick.

With county pair Conor MacCriosta pushing the Drogheda side into the ascendancy just after halftime it looked ominous for their 24th title. Mochs were at sea and MacCriosta was purring, his two pointer typified that.

When Leitrim goalkeeper Daire O’Shea pulled off a stunning save to deny Liam Branigan, the ball fell to Emmett Carolan who made no mistake with the rebound.

Advantage Newtown Blues, and they were known to control leads at the best of times. With sparkling front foot football, they punished the Louth villagers in your typical townies versus country folk final.

Mochta’s played to that stereotype in a positive sense too, not knowing when to give up. Their honesty was infectious and in Declan Byrne they had the right man to guide them.

Former county player, Byrne has won a junior and intermediate title that has graphed the club’s meteoric rise. If he gets over the line next Saturday, himself and sub Philly Englishby will be the two only men to collect all three titles with one club.

Byrne landed tenth points over the hour and levelled the showpiece at the short whistle too. Gerry Garland gave the underdogs the perfect start with an 11th minute goal. Palming in a neat move to settle his side and cushion the onslaught.

Ross Nally lead the response with Jaime Kelly to strike five unanswered scores to show the Blues scoring threat. Johnny Clerkin’s side played a lot of football in that deficit, that could be one the many reasons they are coming back again.

However, when Conor Brannigan skated through for his third point, Mochs were staring into the abyss. A couple of Byrne free’s and two point breach punished with erring poise, the neutrals were happy at the final whistle.

Scorers for Newtown Blues: R Nally 0-5 (1tp), E Carolan 1-0, J Kelly (1f) and C Branigan 0-3 each, C MacCriosta 0-2 (1tp), A McDonnell and L Branigan 0-1 each.

Scorers for St Mochta’s: D Byrne 0-10 (6f, 2tpf), G Garland 1-0, C Byrne 0-2, S Flynn, B Goss Kierans and S Lennon 0-1 each.

NEWTOWN: R Browne: A Connor, C Cluskey Kelly, I Connor; L Branigan, E Carolan, C Branigan; R Kelly, C MacCriosta; J Kelly, D Nally, C Downey, A McDonnell; R Nally, C Moore. 

Subs: B Kermode for R Kelly (48), C Judge for Moore (52).

ST MOCHTA'S: D O’Shea; C Garland, A Lennon, C Kearins, B Goss Kieran, O Callan, G Garland; S Flynn, D Byrne; D McMahon; D Farrell, J Farrell; D Kindlon, C Byrne, S Lennon. 

Subs: S Marron for McMahon (41), P Englishby for J Farrell (47), D Craven for Kearins (52), C Smyth for Kindlon (59).

Referee: S Johnson (Glen Emmets).