Moran hits Louth for six as Leitrim cruise
DAMIEN MORAN scored six points for Leitrim as they booked their place in Round 3 of the qualifiers at the expense of Louth.
Emlyn Mulligan also starred before his black card as Leitrim recovered from a 1-7 to 0-9 half-time deficit to win against 12 men at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon.
William Woods scored Louth’s goal after just three minutes when Conor Grimes set him up.
Ciarán Downey added to their advantage before Ryan O’Rourke scored Leitrim’s first point in the fourth minute.
Louth dominated early, and Leitrim’s cause wasn’t helped when full-back Alan Armstrong got a black card after a trip on Tommy Durnin in the eighth minute.
Woods (free) and Declan Byrne added points and Louth were 1-4 to 0-2 ahead, but began to waste chances.
Brendan Gallagher reduced the deficit and Ronan Holcroft was black carded in the 25th minute after Woods hit the post.
Leitrim lived on the edge but when Craven saw red for an incident with Damien Moran (later joined by Emmet Carolan and Bevan Duffy on black cards with all subs used) the hosts rallied.
And two massive points from Emlyn Mulligan meant Leitrim only trailed by 1-7 to 0-9 at half-time.
Leitrim scored six points in a row, with Mulligan influential throughout.
A Heslin effort gave Leitrim a 0-18 to 1-8 lead, but Mulligan got a black card with 11 minutes remaining though Leitrim pushed on. James Rooney also got a black card deep in injury-time.