Louth 0-27 Offaly 2-15 (after extra time)
A Leinster final to look forward to, Louth’s first since the one that dare not be mentioned, and glass ceilings being smashed left, right and centre.
These are golden days for the Wee County whose rather schizophrenic provincial campaign will run all the way to final day.
A week after coming from eight points down to beat Westmeath by two, Louth this time left it until extra-time before eventually seeing off Offaly.
Ciaran Downey’s seven points from play stood out in normal time while captain Sam Mulroy rose to the occasion with five important points during the additional 20 minutes or so.
Midfield duo Tommy Durnin and Conor Early were terrific for the second weekend running too and substitute Craig Lennon sniped three important points, including two in extra-time, after coming on.
All of which added up to back-to-back wins in the championship for the first time in 13 years for Louth who, as manager Mickey Harte proudly noted, are creating a fresh culture of success for themselves.
Allied to their strong form in the Allianz League when they made a surprise push for promotion to Division One, Louth are probably the pound-for-pound team of the year so far.
“We felt when we came into the county, that’s what we wanted to do – to change the culture of not being able to do the thing that you felt you had quality enough players to do,” said Harte.
“You have to win championship games to prove that. When you find yourself in a tight corner – and we have found ourselves in two tight corners over the last two weekends – you have to battle out of it and they did that.
“So not only are these victories bringing us to a Leinster final, they’re character-building victories and that can only be good. It doesn’t make us world champions in any shape or form, but it makes us competitive.”
Even with their place in the All-Ireland series already secured, Louth would have kicked themselves if they’d let this win slip away.
They took firm control of a game that was level on six occasions by reeling off six points in a row between the 49th and 56th minutes, the excellent Downey curling over the sixth of those scores.
Downey’s seventh of the afternoon in the 60th minute left four points between them, 0-17 to 1-10, but in a game that stretched out to 75 minutes, Louth didn’t score again.
Mulroy had two attempts at goal cleared off the line in the 61st minute as Offaly redoubled their efforts and ate into the deficit.
Points from Cian Farrell and the inspired Dylan Hyland reduce the gap to the minimum before Cian Donohoe fed Anton Sullivan on the left wing to fire over the equaliser for Offaly, sending the game to extra-time.
Bill Carroll’s point at the start of extra-time briefly nudged Offaly ahead but Mulroy suddenly came to life, reeling off four rapid-fire points as Louth again struck six without reply.
Offaly did muster a Declan Hogan goal in response but Louth had a cushion in place to absorb the hit this time and finished with more points from Niall Sharkey, Lennon and Mulroy to seal the win.
Truth be told, Mulroy may have been fortunate to still be on the pitch for extra-time given his limited impact up to then as he negotiates a hamstring injury.
“Well, would you take Messi off?” shot back Harte when asked afterwards why Mulroy wasn’t replaced.
“A player like that has quality, he is the real star player and he is our captain. You have to wait for someone like that to find their feet.”
LOUTH: J Califf; D McKenny, D Corcoran, C Murphy; L Grey, N Sharkey (0-2), C McKeever; T Durnin (0-2), C Early (0-2); P Matthews, C Downey (0-7), C Grimes (0-2); C Keenan, S Mulroy (0-6, 2f), D McKeown (0-2).
Subs: D McConnon for Keenan (32), L Jackson (0-1) for Matthews & C Lennon (0-3) for McKeown (h/t), P Lynch for Murphy (46), A Williams for McKeever (65). R Burns for Jackson & C McCaul for McConnon (e/t), McKeever for Corcoran (83), Jackson for McKenny (85), Murphy for Grey (88).
OFFALY: I Duffy; D Hogan (1-0), D Dempsey, L Pearson; C Donohoe, P Cunningham (1-1), C Donnelly; J McEvoy, C McNamee; D Hyland (0-5, 1f), R McNamee (0-3, 1f), J Evans; C Farrell (0-2, 1f), N Dunne (0-2, 1f), A Sullivan (0-1).
Subs: J Maher for Evans (50), A Leavy for C McNamee & B Carroll (0-1) for Dunne (56), J O’Brien for Pearson (62), J Bryant for McEvoy (64). L Egan for Sullivan, N Bracken for Donohoe, McEvoy for McNamee (e/t), S O’Toole Greene for Donnelly (79), Sullivan for Hyland (80+1), A Brazil for Cunningham (73).
Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).
