LOUTH OPEN WITH CLASSY BELFAST WIN
LIDL NFL DIVISION 4 New boss happy with display
ALL-IRELAND junior champions Louth showed their promotion credentials with a 3-11-0-06 victory over Antrim at the Queens University Dub.
The hosts were second best in the opening half and were dealt a blow with the temporary loss of Aine Tubridy and Louth took full advantage with Lauren Boyle hitting the net in a dominant thirty minute display.
Dee McConville’s side showed some improvement after the break but further goals from Boyle and substitute Aimee McNally ensured that Louth would run out with a bit to spare at the end.
The visitors made a bright start to proceedings and hit the opening score through Lauren Boyle and fellow corner-forward Rebecca Carr doubled their advantage.
Aoife Taggart’s free dropped short in the aftermath and Nikki Jones was on-hand to ensure a point was forthcoming for the Saffrons.
Antrim were then dealt a setback when captain Aine Tubridy was booked and subsequently sin-binned for an innocuous coming together – referee Gavin Finnegan felt Tubridy was guilty of charging and the hosts were reduced to 14-players for ten minutes.
In that time Louth tagged on further points from Boyle, Niamh Rice (free) and Rebecca Carr, they may also have had a goal – but Anna McCann produced a magnificent stop to deny Niamh Rice.
Five minutes before the break the opening goal did fall for Louth as Lauren Boyle got onto the end of a popped pass from Louise Byrne and guided the ball past McCann to make it 1-05-0-01.
Boyle quickly added another point in the immediate aftermath and a perfectly angled point from captain Aoife Byrne; in-between scores from namesake Eimearensured that their side led 1-090-01 at the interval.
Niamh Rice doubled her account with a score inside the first sixty seconds of the restart and Aoife Taggart responded from a free in front of the posts.
Further scores were traded between Lauren Boyle and Aine Tubridy before substitute Abi Carleton made her mark with an intelligent point.
Aine Breen squeezed the ball over at the near post in reply to Carleton’s point with a double from corner-forward Ellen Morgan levelling the second-half
LOUTH manager Wayne Freeman was pleased with his side’s impressive display against Antrim.
‘We are delighted to get the win,’ he said. ‘I thought we worked extremely hard and played quite well at times so we are happy about that. It’s very important now that we move on and concentrate on our next challenge on Sunday next. We can always improve and that’s what we will try to do this week leading into the Limerick game concluded the the Kildare man
Louth captain Aoife Byrne was equally satisfied with the performance, stating: “This is a great start to our league campaign. We lost to Antrim in the league semis last year so we knew it was going to be a tough battle. We have built on last year’s success and are going into each game well prepared mentally and physically.
‘Today we played under tough weather conscoreline.
Anna McCann produced another magnificent stop to deny Alannah McLoughlin late-on but the Saffrons keeper was left helpless soon after as Aimee McNally collected a long-balls and rounded McCann before steering the ball home to give Louth a 3-11-0-06 victory at the conclusion.
LOUTH: U Pearson, E Hand, C Donnelly, H Lambe-Sally, A Halligan, S McLoughlin, C Nolan, A Breen (0-01), A Byrne (0-01), L Byrne, E Byrne (0-02), N Rice (0-02, 0-01f), R Carr (0-02), A Russell, L Boyle (2-03). Subs: S Matthews for E Hand; S Quinn for C Donnelly; G Murray for H Lambe-Sally; R Kavanagh for A Halligan; E Murray for C Nolan; G Trainor for A Breen; C Quinn for E Byrne; E Norton for N Rice; A McNally (1-00) for R Carr; A McLoughlin for L Boyle.
ANTRIM: A McCann, L Wallace, E Kelly, N Killen, N Webb, O Corr, G Shannon, L Dahunsi, A Tubridy (0-01), G D O’Reilly, A Taggart (0-01f), M McGarry, E Morgan (0-02), N Jones (0-01), E Rocks. Subs: A Carleton (0-01) for E Rocks (HT); N McKeown for E Kelly (39); L O’Neill for D O’Reilly (51); R Hemsworth for N Killen (56).
REFEREE: Gavin Finnegan (Down) ditions. We had the wind in the first half and had a good lead at half-time but we knew the game was far from over. We got the first score of the second half and that’s always a good sign.
‘We have a panel of 32 players and everyone is fighting for their position and that’s the way a county team should be. Today showed that our bench is just as strong as our starting 15.
‘We’ve been training hard since November under our new management. They have been very professional in their set up and we are always told where we are going wrong and where we can improve in our game. This is vital for a team to progress and development especially moving up into the intermediate ranks in championship.
‘We have Limerick home next week. We look forward to re-grouping on Tuesday and preparing for another battle next week.’