Louth 1-17 Longford 0-9:Aidan O'Rourke kept his unbeaten record intact in Drogheda yesterday.

The Armagh native continued to experiment with his new panel but for the second Sunday in a row his team racked up 20 points in another impressive display. After a bright opening by the visitors, Louth took control in the 12th minute when Shane Lennon fired past Paddy Collumb for the game’s only goal.

Further points from James Califf (2) and Conor Rafferty extended their lead to six points, but with Francis McGee and Donal McElligott causing the home defence problems, Longford rallied to trail by 1-8 to 0-7 at the break. But Glen Ryan’s experimental line-up failed to score from play in the second half as Louth helped themselves to five points inside the opening 10 minutes. With Andy McDonnell impressing on the ‘40’ Louth went on to book a home date against Dublin next week.

LOUTH: N Gallagher; J Bingham, D Finnegan, G Hoey; C Bellew, L Shevlin, D Byrne; C Rafferty (0-1), R Carroll (0-1); J Califf, (0-4, two frees) A McDonnell (0-5), JJ Quigley; D Clarke (0-2, one free), S Lennon (1-1), D Reid (0-3). Subs: R Moore for J Califf, P Keenan for C Rafferty, C McGuinness for D Byrne (all h-t), E O'Connor for JJ Quigley (48), J O'Brien for D Finnegan (52).

LONGFORD: P Collumb; P Foy, B Gilleran, F Battrim; M Duffy, K Diffley, D Brady; M Brady, J Keegan (0-1); JP Reilly, B McKeon (0-1), A Rowan; F McGee (0-4, three frees), D McElligott (0-3, one free), E Dalton. Subs: P Kelly for JP Reilly (57), C Quaine for M Brady (68).

Referee: D Gough (Meath).