Relief is the over-riding emotion for captain Andy
tain Andy McDonnell marshalled well by Waters on the day, started a scoring run of five in a row along with Byrne and a three frees from Woods.
Moyles a constant thorn got his first form play an excellent effort from his accurate left foot, cancelled Woods free to push the lead out to ten 2-18 to 1-11.
A Mark Gottsche free from distance and McSorley exchanged scores as David Carrabine received a black card.
London who haven’t won a Qualifier game since 2011 then raised a gallop, notching five on the trot midway through the second half from Moyles with three, McMahon and substitute Killian Butler. Holcroft then received a black card himself midway through this onslaught.
Just as visiting Louth supporters began to get nervous, Grimes was pulled down and Woods fired the spot kick over the bar, then adding three more points, one from play.
Grimes and McSorley got a pair of points each their industry deserved. London replacement Liam Irwin floated a consolation with the assist of wind for Ciaran Deely’s side.
With the feel good factor of a second round qualifier place already secured the day was enhanced further with Niall Conlon returning from injury and Mattock Rangers player Aaron O’Brien making his debut off the bench in the closing stages.
Woods bookended the game, and stamped the overriding memory of the trip with a point from a free. RELIEF was the over-riding feeling Louth captain Andy McDonnell felt when he heard final whistle blast through Ruislip in the heart of England’s bustling capital.
‘Yes exactly,’ he enthused. ‘It’s been tough all year and it is hard when you go training and I know only one team can win a game at the end of the day and it’s tough that all the work you do, doesn’t mean you are going to reap the rewards, but it is still tough. I’d probably say it is more of a relief to get a win if I’m honest.
‘We enjoyed it in the dressing room, Pete spoke quite well after it and we’ll be ready for the next game, but happy too to get the win.’
The further the game progressed you could see the pressure melt away from the Louth players as they expressed themselves in kicking an impressive high tally to boot.
‘Some of the long range kicking today was brilliant ,long range and passing inside to the full forward line. I think we only kicked three or four wides.
‘We said before the match if we go out and play to the best of our ability and we’ll come out with a win and we’ll be in the draw and we are. We’ll be listening very closely to see who we get. You never know, hopefully we get another win under our belts and go from there.’
McDonnell singled out his Newtown Blues team-mate for high praise.
‘I thought Ciaran Downey was very good today,’ He declared.
‘He got two lovely points, set Conor Grimes up for the goal, seen him one on one and popped it in and we got the goal just before half time to put us six ahead.’
With a few subtle tweaks McDonnell believes there is a opportunity to end a terrible year on a further positive note.
‘We have a small panel everyone knows that, 24-25 lads there at the minute but I’m confident and everyone is confident of their ability to be called upon. 2-26 is a great scoring, it is a positive, but maybe you look at the other end, if you are one of them people that likes the defensive side of the game we conceded 1-19 and we probably will need to smarten up in our defence the next day no matter what team we get.
‘It is not good to be conceding, but I don’t mind high scoring if we score one more than opposition the next day to get a win, a wins a win.’