Louth facing a whitewash in NFL

SPRING finally turned up at a sun-kissed Cusack Park on Sunday afternoon, but Louth’s winter of discontent is showing no sign of a let up.

Making a good start was one of the main objectives heading to Ennis, but a Louth player hadn’t even touched the ball before Jamie Malone latched onto a quick free by Gary Brennan and gave Craig Lynch no chance with a fierce strike to the roof of the net.

Sod’s law. Thereafter, Louth found themselves in the all too familiar position of chasing the game, but after looking like they might make a fist of it, further goals

Clare Louth 3-12 1-11

from Keelan Sexton on the halfhour and Kieran Malone in the final minute of the first-half put the issue beyond all doubt by half-time.

And Louth’s response to the first goal made that late collapse all the more frustrating for Pete McGrath and his players.

They matched the home side for the majority of the first-half, starting with a well-worked Declan Byrne point a minute after the Clare goal.

Clare came again with points from Cathal O’Connor and Eoin Cleary, but A Ryan Burns free followed by a Conor Grimes point from play made it 1-2 to 0-3.

That early goal seemed destined to separate the sides as Andy McDonnell responded to a couple of Cleary frees to leave Louth trailing by 1-4 to 0-4, but another item on Louth’s to-do list fell by the wayside in the run-in to half-time.

Pete McGrath has preached often about letting opponents get a run on his team and that’s exactly what Clare did in the third quarter, plundering 2-3 and