Ruthless Rossies rumble Reds in Rackard

ROSCOMMON kept Louth at arm’s length to get their Nicky Rackard Cup campaign off to winning start at Dr Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon.

Brendan Mulry hit 1-5 and Paddy Fallon pitched in with eight points from placed balls to procure a six-point win for Kevin Sammon’s charges, who made shrewd use of the wind advantage during the opening period.

The home side laid their platform for victory in the first half, hitting 0-15 to by nine at the halfway mark.

It took some time for Roscommon to finetune their radar but their accuracy became more pronounced as the half progressed.

Fallon spearheaded the scoring charge with 0-7 (six frees and a 65), while Mulry, Jack Dowling, Darragh Finn, James Hardiman, and Cian Murray split the posts from play.

Louth had made a decent start when Conor Murphy found the net in the seventh minute following some hesitancy in the Roscommon rearguard, which gave Trevor Hilliard’s team a single point advantage, but the visitors had it all to do at the break, trailing by 0-15 to 1-3.

To their credit, they made a decent fist at trying to reel in their opponents, outscoring the hosts by 0-5 to 0-1 in the third quarter, with substitutes Thomas McCreesh and David Stephenson making an impression having been introduced.

But once Mulry flicked a long delivery to the net with three minutes remaining, Roscommon were home and hosed, in spite of Darren Geoghegan’s best efforts from frees.

ROSCOMMON: Enda Lawless; Mark Ward, Declan Leonard, James Dillon; Jack Donnelly, Conor Cosgrove, Jack Dowling 0-1; Darragh Finn 0-2, James Hardiman 0-2; Cian Murray 0-2, Adam Donnelly, Brian Lawlor; Brendan Mulry 1-5, Jack Martin, Paddy Fallon 0-8 (7f, 1 65). Subs: Seán Canning for Donnelly (HT), Conor Mulry for Martin (HT), Liam Óg Coyle for Lawlor (67), Thomas Fleming for Donnelly (68).

LOUTH: Conor Clancy; Andrew Smyth, Adam Plunkett, Ronan Mulholland; Stephen Kettle 0-1, Conor Quigley, Aaron McGuinness-Smith; James Costelloe, George Allen; Paddy Lynch 0-3, Darren Geoghegan 0-6 (6f), Seaghan Conneely; Conor Murphy 1-1, John Casey, Peter Fortune. Subs: Kyle Rafferty for Plunkett (11), Thomas McCressh 0-1 for Costello (51), David Stephenson 0-2 for Connelly (55), Ricky McKeown for McGuinness-Smith (64), Dylan Carey for Casey (70).

REFEREE: Ciarán O’Regan (Cork).