Louth collapse riles McGrath
LOUTH manager Pete McGrath hit out at his side’s ‘substandard’ second-half showing as they were knocked out of the Leinster Championship by Carlow in the opening round.
His side suffered an 11-point defeat at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise, just two years on from Louth’s 10-point victory in the same fixture.
Carlow go into a Leinster quarterfinal with Kildare after late goals from Diarmuid Walshe and Paul Broderick ended Louth’s challenge.
‘It was probably worse than I could have imagined,’ said McGrath. ‘The longer that second half went on the more and more disappointing and harder to look at that it became.
‘It was just a really, really substandard, poor second-half performance for a team to play as badly as we did in the second half.’
With Broderick and Sean Murphy to the fore early on Carlow kept in touch with Louth, but Tommy Durnin, Ryan Burns and Gerard McSorley all pointed to push the Wee County clear, although two Darragh Foley scores meant Louth only trailed by 0-10 to 0-9 at half-time.
But their challenge nosedived after the restart and Burns kicked Louth’s first point of the half 16 minutes in. By that stage Broderick had given Carlow the cushion they needed, and with Burns sent off, Broderick and Walshe sealed the win.
‘We weren’t going to panic at any stage,’ said Carlow manager Turlough O’Brien. ‘We’re determined to push on. We’re headed for the Super 8s lads.’ CARLOW: R Molloy; D Walshe (M Rennick 63), S Redmond, C Lawlor (K Nolan 68); J Morrissey (L Walker 63), D St Ledger, D Moran (C Crowley 31); S Murphy, C Moran (B Kavanagh 68); S Gannon, D Foley, E Ruth; D O’Brien, P Broderick, J Murphy. Scorers: P Broderick 1-8 (0-5f), D Walshe 1-2, D Foley 0-2 (1f), D St Ledger (1f), S Murphy, E Ruth, S Gannon, L Walker (1f) 0-1. Wides: 11 (6). Frees: 15 (6). LOUTH: C Lynch; D Marks, E Carolan, J Craven; D Maguire (H Osborne 22, BC), B Duffy, A Williams; A McDonnell, T Durnin; C Downey, D Byrne (R Holcroft 56), G McSorley; W Woods (R Nally 62), C Grimes, R Burns. Scorers: G McSorley 0-3, R Burns (1f), W Woods, T Durnin 0-2, D Byrne, H Osborne, J Craven 0-1. Yellow cards: C Grimes 47, R Burns 56, B Duffy 59, T Durnin 61, A McDonnell 67. Black card: D Maguire 22. Red card: R Burns 75. Wides: 9 (3). Frees: 14 (5). Referee: N Cullen (Fermanagh).