Sport

Louth get a boost

Louth 1-17; Waterford 1-13: The smallest crowd in a number of years at a home match saw Louth pick up their only victory of …

Mon Apr 05 2004 - 01:00

Louth 1-17; Waterford 1-13: The smallest crowd in a number of years at a home match saw Louth pick up their only victory of the league campaign, over Waterford, at the Gaelic Grounds, Drogheda, yesterday.

Both sides had failed to pick up a point prior to the final round of matches so needed the morale boost of a win before the championship.

In the end the spoils went to Louth in a game which illustrated the reasons why both teams occupy such lowly positions. Poor passages of play, coupled with a whistle-happy referee, left the crowd of about 350 frustrated.

Place-kicking dominated the match and 19 of the scores came from free-kicks, with Louth centre-forward Darren Clarke kicking 10 points and Waterford full-forward Billy Harty kicking nine points from frees.

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Louth played against the strong wind in the opening half but still led 1-8 to 0-6 at the break with the goal coming after 18 minutes from wing-forward Paddy Keenan.

The home side stretched that lead to 1-11 to 0-6 within eight minutes of the restart before Waterford's Liam O'Lonain netted from close range after 44 minutes.

The visitors kept plugging away and closed the deficit to a single score, 1-15 to 1-12, with five minutes remaining.

But Louth didn't let their first victory slip away as Clarke and substitute Christy Grimes scored the insurance points before Harty wrapped up affairs in the final minute.

LOUTH: S Connor; R Kelly, J Kermath, A Page; J Clerkin, P Mallon, R Rooney; S O'Neill (0-2), P McGuigan; N McDonnell (0-2), D Clarke (0-11, 10 frees), P Keenan (1-1); P Matthews, D Devaney, C Malone. Subs: Grimes (0-1) for P Matthews (51 mins); JJ Quigley for J Clerkin (57 mins); D Shevlin for P McGuigan (57 mins); D Bracken for C Malone (64 mins).

WATERFORD: P Houlihan; ML Crotty, E Rockett, T Dunphy; N Hennessy, P Queally, R Hennessy; K O'Keefe (0-1), J Coffey (0-1); C Watt (0-1), L O'Lonain (1-0), P Ogle (0-1); G Power, B Harty (0-9, all frees), T Whelan. Subs: C Power for L O'Lonain (46 mins); J Moore for ML Crotty (58 mins).

Referee: Michael Henry (Cavan).