Weekend of draws in Louth SFC
NEWTOWN Blues were the only winners from a bizarre week of senior football championship action in Louth, with all bar one of the quarter-finals ending in draws.
With two rounds of league action pencilled in over the next two weekends, the replays are expected to be fixed for September 8/9/10, with the Junior semi-finals due to be played the same weekend.
The CCC may not appreciate the extra fixture headache, but the county finance committee will certainly welcome the boost in gate receipts.
The semi-final draws went ahead on Sunday night as planned, but the senior line-ups are littered with ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.
The Blues’ win over St Patrick’s ensures they will take their place in the last four, but they will have to wait to see if their semi-final clash will be against St Joseph’s or Geraldines.
The neighbours were the last teams in action in Dowdallshill on Sunday night, where the weekend drama reached a crescendo with Alan Quigley’s late equaliser for the Joe’s.
The picture is even muddier on the other side of the draw with the winners of Naomh Mairtin and Dreadnots’ replay set to face either Sean O’Mahony’s or Dundalk Gaels.
Dreadnots performed the greatest escape over the weekend as corner back Derek Shevlin fired home a priceless goal deep in injury-time AFTER his side had been reduced to 13 men.
Dundalk Gaels ran them close, kicking the last two scores in Dowdallshill in the curtain-raiser on Sunday, earning a replay against reigning champions Sean O’Mahony’s.
The line-ups for the intermediate and junior championships are a lot more clear-cut with Mattock Rangers completing the IFC line-up with a comfortable win over St Mochta’s on Saturday night.
They were pitted against Clan Na Gael the following night in a mouth-watering semi-final showdown, while the other last four clash is just as appealing with neighbours and group rivals Naomh Fionnbarra and O’Connell’s set to meet again.
The junior finalists were revealed the weekend before last, but Sunday’s draw threw up a humdinger of a semi-final between favourites Roche Emmets and Glyde Rangers.
The other semi-final sees Glen Emmets take on Lannleire as the Tullyallen men bid to make amends for last year’s final defeat to St Kevin’s.