Gutsy Louth fall agonisingly short

quickfire points.

Wicklow did respond with a Jackson free and a point from Kelleher after Brendan O’Hagan made a fine save from Byrne, but Louth didn’t let that check their momentum.

The increasingly influential Hennessy added another point, but it was three points from play in as many minutes, that gave the home side real belief.

Eoin McDaid breathed new life into the Louth midfield after Cathal Grogan’s departure late in the first-half and the Cooley man kicked two fine points either side of a second score for sub Aaron Devlin to whittle the deficit down to just two points, 0-14 to 0-12.

To Wicklow’s credit, they didn’t let their guard slip any further and after Byrne traded scores with Hennessy, the Avondale CC man, sliced straight through the heart of the home defence and drilled a superb finish to the roof of the net.

That was the score that finally broke Louth’s resolve, and while Shane Matthews put four between the sides with a free, Wicklow just had to keep their cool in the closing stages to book their place in the last eight.

They could have added a second goal in injury-time, but Ross Coogan drove his shot high and hard and it clipped the crossbar on the way over.

Wicklow await the winners of Thursday’s clash between Marist Athlone and St Pat’s Navan in another away assignment and with a bit of momentum behind them they will be confident of securing a few more days out.