Gutsy Louth fall agonisingly short
A brave second-half comeback fell agonisingly short as Louth Schools followed their Dundalk and Drogheda counterparts out of the Leinster ‘A’ Championship on Monday.
Conquerors of Drogheda in the opening round, Wicklow built up a solid first-half cushion, which at one stage hit seven points, and they retired at the interval with a double scores lead, 0-12 to 0-6
But Louth re-grouped at half-time and closed the gap to just two points at one stage, but a soft goal at a crucial stage, put paid to their hopes of pulling off what would have been a remarkable fightback.
It was a gutsy display by the hosts against a team selecting from at least nine different schools, compared to Louth’s three - Bush, Ardee and Dunleer.
Louth started the match brightly and took advantage of any lingering bus-lag in the visitor’s legs with points from Conor Hennessy and Eoin McDaid, but it didn’t take Wicklow long to shake off the effects of their long trek north.
Full forward Cathal Kelleher opened their account before Byrne and Jackson took over, kicking six frees in quick succession, each one better than the next.
Jackson’s jaunts up a long Darver pitch chewed up a lot of time, and no doubt plenty of energy, but the Scoil Chonglais stopper obliged every time, from 45 metres or more.
The classy Byrne was equally prolific, albeit from closer range, and the deadly duo converted six frees between them in just nine minutes to open a 0-7 to 0-2 lead.
It was clear the hosts could ill-afford to cough up frees from any distance, but with Wicklow in complete control in the middle third, that was easier said than done.
The excellent Ciaran Keenan stopped the rot briefly, stroking over a free at the other end, but Byrne restored Wicklow’s five-point cushion immediately.
Keenan responded again, from play this time, but Wicklow were still rampant, so much so that the Louth management made three changes before the break.
They had a bit of a let-off when Liam Miley skied a ground shot over the bar with just the ‘keeper to beat, but two more superb frees from goalkeeper Jackson made it 0-11 to 0-4.
It was hard to see any way back for the hosts at that stage, but they managed to reduce the deficit to six at the break, as scores from Aaron Devlin and Keenan sandwiched a Cathal Kelleher point for Wicklow, making it 0-12 to 0-6.
A rousing teamtalk was the order of the day in the home dressing room at the interval and, to their credit, Louth were a transformed team after the re-start.
Keenan, from another free, and Conor Hennessy closed the gap with a couple of 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. WICKLOW SCHOOLS: Mark Jackson 0-5 (3f, 2‘45’); Cian Lee, Tom Maher, Eoin McTague; Darragh Fitzgerald, Jacques McCall, John Kavanagh; Mark Bennett, Jack Mockler; Ross Coogan 0-1, Conor Byrne 1-6 (6f), Cal Connolly; Liam Miley 0-1, Cathal Kelleher 0-3, Sean Gregory.
LOUTH SCHOOLS: Brendan O’Hagan; Martin Hynes, Conor Kenny, Mark Whelan; Donal McKenny, Eoin McDaid 0-3, Dylan Maher; Cathal Grogan, Liam Jackson; Leonard Gray, Conor Hennessy 0-4, Jack Murphy; Ciaran Keenan 0-4 (3f), Conor Gillespie, Shane Matthews 0-1f. Subs: Philip Trainor for D Maher (19), Aaron Devlin 0-2 for J Murphy (19), Adam Callanan for C Grogan (27), Patrick Usher for D McKenny (50).
REFEREE: Patrick Coyle (Meath).