Leinster Club SFC first round: St Mary’s Ardee (Louth) 3-14 Abbeylara (Longford) 2-8
Two second-half goals set Ardee St Marys on their way to a Leinster quarter-final appearance as they saw off Longford winners Abbeylara on Sunday afternoon.
Longford champions Abbeylara made life difficult for the home side early, with players behind the ball, and double marking dangerous St Marys’ forwards, including county star Ciaran Keenan.
Frankie Dolan’s side opened the scoring after the first minute through a fine score from Jason Kelly, before Ciarán Scanlon converted a close-range free to give them a 0-2 to no score lead after 8 minutes.
The Marys eventually got on the scoreboard through Shane Matthews from play.
Scorer-in-chief Robert Smyth traded efforts with Ardee’s Carl Gillepie to leave the sides level at 0-3 each by the end of the first quarter.
Kian Moran put the Marys ahead, before a fine move saw Liam Jackson dance his way through the Abbeylara defence to fire to the net to give the Marys a 1-4 to 0-3 lead after 20 minutes.
However, Abbeylara soon responded, when Cathal Gilligan parried a deflected Robert Smyth shot to the net second after Jackson’s major.
Kian Moran and Carl Gillespie, from a free, soon gave Ardee a three-point lead. However, the Deesiders were stunned when a free from Abbeylara’s Ciaran Scanlon found its way to the net to leave the sides deadlocked at the break at 1-6 to 2-3.
However, Abbeylara were dealt a huge blow when they lost Cathal Gilligan to a black card, and Jason Kelly to a straight red card in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Ardee St Marys punished them emphatically, with Tom Jackson and Karl Faulkner grabbing the goals, while Kian Moran and Carl Gillespie tagged on further scores.
Tom Jackson was particularly influential, with 25 possessions over the hour.
Abbeylara’s Robert Smyth did keep Ardee honest with some excellent scores, but the Marys pushed for home, with sub Ronan Carroll and Tom Jackson adding late scores as the Marys advance to the quarter final of the Leinster senior championship.
Ardee St Marys: T Markey; T McDonnell, K Faulkner (1-0), E Keenan; J Commins, D McKenny, C Gillespie (0-3, three frees); RJ Callaghan, P McKenny; C Keenan, L Jackson (1-1), K Moran (0-4), S Matthews, D McConnon, T Jackson (1-1).
Subs: R Carroll (0-2) for Rooney (39), S Callaghan for Matthews (45), C Gillespie for Commins (51), T Corrigan for E Keenan (54), E Malone for Moran (55)
Abbeylara: G Kelly; M McHugh, PJ Masterson, S Mahon; C Brady, B Masterson, C.P Smyth; F Battrim, C Scanlon (1-1, one free); P. Berry, J Kelly (0-1), C. Lynch; R Smyth (0-5, three frees), C. Gilligan (1-0), C Gilna.
Subs: N Rabitte for Berry (48), R Reilly (0-1) for Padraig Berry (41), Connor Berry (0-1) for Gilligan (51), M Brady for S Mahon (58).
Referee: B Cawley (Co Kildare).
