Improving Louth push Roscommon all the way
Indeed, by the end of the game they no doubt will have been glad to be heading home to Roscommon after being made to fight for every score by a Louth side which showed great improvement from when the two sides met last year.This was a game Louth could have won but some poor wides and that bit more experience Roscommon possessed as they come under pressure towards the end of the game, was the difference between the two sides.Louth will no doubt reflect on some poor wides, particularly scoreable frees which may have made the difference. At the same time they can take confidence from the fact they are fast improving.Saturday’s performance against a side that is a championship tier above them, was a marked improvement on the last day out in Darver when they lost to Tyrone and a big jump from when they played Roscommon last season.Lessons have clearly being learned.Playing - and in fairness fortunate to be playing considering the recent weather - on a heavy Darver surface more suited to football and certainly not conducive to hurling, both sets of players struggled at times to get ball in hand off the sticky surface with it bobbling off the uneven surface. It was, however, the same for both sides.Perhaps the Louth County Board may consider dedicating one of their pitches at Darver for hurling moving forward with the appropriate maintenance of the pitch put in place – just a thought.While the two sides grappled with the playing conditions, both were wasteful with early chances. It was Louth who were first on the scoreboard with Conor Murphy, set up following some good play between Aaron McGuinness and Mark Gahan, firing over.Roscommon responded with two points from Eoin Kiernan and Conor Morris (free) to lead 0-2 to 0-1 after 11 minutes.Darren Geoghegan had the sides level from a free from the half-way line but Roscommon were begging to get to grips with midfield while Louth struggled for any meaningful possession inside the visitor’s half.A soft free allowed Morris the chance of a point but his shot came back off the upright and was cleared only for Liam Og Coyle to be fouled giving Morris an easier opportunity for a point which he duly took.The sides traded wides before Morris again with a point, made it 0-4 to 0-2 after 23 minutes.A huge point from Peter Fortune, from inside his own ’65 and an excellently worked score set up by Mark Gahan and delivered by Andrew La Touche Cosgrave, saw Louth level matters at 0-4 a piece 26 minutes in.A minute later, the home side took the lead when a run from Ciaran McKelvey was abruptly ended with the Naomh Moninne man slotting over his own free to put Louth in front, 0-5 to 0-4.Another Murphy point on 33 minutes put the lead out to two, 0-6 to 0-4 but Morris fired over a 50-metre free against the wind, to leave just one between the sides at the break 0-6 to 0-5.Roscommon hit the ground running at the start of the second half and four points on the bounce from Sean Canning (2) and one each from Morris and Cian Murray, flipped the score with the visitors now in front 0-9 to 0-6 and 44 minutes played.With the game somewhat frantic at times, neither side was able to get a foothold in the game and it see-sawed from one end of the field to another.Louth pulled two points back with Geoghegan finding his range from play to make it 0-9 to 0-8. However, no sooner did it look like Louth were getting the measure of Roscommon, the visitors fired over with Canning, Conor Mulry and Morris (f) putting the lead back out to four points, 0-12 to 0-8 on 52 minutes.Refusing to lie down, back came Louth with Casey at the end of a Gahan pass to fire over the bar. Roscommon then almost got in for a goal when a long-range free from inside their own ’45 dropped in amongst a group of player at the edge of the square. In the scramble for the ball, Roscommon’s Adam Donnelly, as he was falling, managed to flick a shot which rattled the crossbar before Clancy got down bravely to save the rebound.The ball was cleared as far as Murphy and he was fouled leaving McKelvey to tap over a 21-metre free.When the same player tapped over another 21 metre free on 68 minutes, there was just a single point between the sided, 0-12 to 0-11 however, a bit of inexperience perhaps crept into Louth game as whereas they hadn’t given Roscommon the room to play in the second half, the visitors began to find more space as Louth chased the game.Fallon, with a point put the lead out to two, 0-13 to 0-11, on 69 minutes and from the resultant Louth puckout, Roscommon won possession and Canning, with space and time, put the final score over the bar for what was something of a let off for the visitors.Louth: Conor Clancy; Stephen Kettle, Aaron McGuinness, Sean Hodgins; John Casey 0-1, Peter Fortune 0-1, Michael O’Shea; Darragh Geoghegan 0-3 (1f), Sean Flynn; Andrew Le Touche Cosgrave 0-1, Seaghan Conneely, Kyle Rafferty; Conor Murphy 0-2, Ciaran McKelvey 0-3 (2f), Mark Gahan. Subs: James Costello for Rafferty (41), Sean Magill for Gahan (58)Roscommon: Enda Lawless; Eamon Mulry, James Dillon, Michaél Hussey; Keelan Ryan, Tommy Morris, Darragh Finn; Conor Morris 0-6 (5f), Ronan Finn; Cian Murray 0-1, Eoin Kiernan 0-1, Sean Canning 0-4; Conor Mulry 0-1, Adan Donnelly, Liam Óg Coyles. Subs: Paddy Fallon 0-1 for Kiernan (27).Referee: Seaghan Walsh (Waterford)
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