Longford 0-8 Down 3-7
The old cliche ‘goals win games’ rang true in Pearse Park as a hat-trick from Donal O’Hare saw Down inflict a first league defeat on Longford and keep their promotion hopes very much alive.
It was a fine display from the Mournemen with O’Hare taking his goals well. Down goalkeeper Rory Burns played his part in this win, denying the impressive Darren Gallagher twice with fine saves and then saving Micheál Quinn’s second-half penalty.
Gallagher registered the first score with a free in the fourth minute, but despite possession Longford couldn’t add to it.
In the 12th minute Down got a goal when a long ball in from Caolan Mooney was neatly finished to the net by Donal O’Hare. Longford were level in the 16th minute but Down finished strongly, hitting over four points in a row with two from O’Hare (one free), Conor Poland and Gerard Collins.
Longford had a goal chance in the 28th minute; Darren Quinn made a great run to the endline and crossed to Gallagher but his effort was saved by Rory Burns as the Midlanders trailed by four at the break.
Down stretched their lead to seven within one minute of the second half; another long ball in, this time from Poland, caught Longford napping again and O’Hare grabbed his and his side’s second goal.
Longford got a much needed point from sub Connor Berry in the 38th minute and soon after Burns was on hand to deny Gallagher. Longford were made rue those missed goal chances in the 50th minute when a mark from Jerome Johnston found Daniel Guinness and he played it to O’Hare, who got his third goal.
Berry kicked over a free in the 56th minute and two minutes later Longford had a chance for a goal when they were awarded a penalty after Quinn was fouled. He stepped up but his spot-kick was pushed out for a 45 and Gallagher made no mistake with the kick.
Down subs Johnston (two) and Guinness added points to their score while Longford got consolation points from Gallagher and Connerton.
LONGFORD: P Collum; D Quinn, A Farrell, B O'Farrell; CP Smyth, B McKeon, D Mimnagh; D Gallagher (0-4, two frees, one 45), M Quinn; S Donohoe, P Hanley, P Lynn; D Doherty, L Connerton (0-2), M Hughes.
Subs: D McElligott for Donohoe (24 mins); C Berry (0-2, one free) for Hanley, J Hagan for Lynn (both h/t); J McGivney for Hughes (55), P Fox for Mimnagh (66).
DOWN: R Burns; G Collins (0-1), R Wells, R McAleenan; P Laverty, C Flanagan, D O'Hagan; J Flynn, C Mooney; R Johnston, C Poland (0-1), C McGrady; D O'Hare (3-2, one free) C Harrison, K McKernan .
Subs: D Guinness (0-1) for McGrady (24 mins); B O'Hagan for Johnston (34), C McGinn for Flynn (43), J Johnston (0-2) for Harrison (both 43), B McArdle for R Wells (64).
Referee: J Molloy (Galway).
Louth 5-16 Sligo 0-16
Louth moved top of Division 3 on score difference with a commanding display in Drogheda.
First-half goals from Eoghan Duffy, Sam Mulroy and Jim McEneaney ensured a 3-8 to 0-8 half-time advantage.
After the break, two goals in the space of a minute from Declan Byrne and Duffy put Louth in total control.
The home side maintained their advantage, boosting their score difference significantly in the process.
Wayne Kierans’s side are now firmly focused on promotion and head for Carlow on Saturday night bidding for a fourth win on the trot.
LOUTH: F Sheekey; F Donohoe, E Carolan, J Craven; A Williams, B Duffy, J Clutterbuck; T Durnin (0-1), J Califf; C Branigan, C Downey (0-2), C McKeever; A McDonnell (0-1), S Mulroy (1-5, three frees), D Byrne (1-2).
Subs: E Duffy (2-1) for C McKeever (23 mins), J McEneaney (1-2) for C Branigan (29), R Nally (0-2) for D Byrne (43), N Conlon for E Duffy (58), H Osborne for A McDonnell (61).
SLIGO: A Devaney; J Carr, E McHugh, Mikey Gordon; D Cummins, A McIntyre, N Mullen (0-1); P Kilcoyne, G O'Kelly Lynch; K McKenna, S Carrabine (0-2), N Ewing; L Gaughan (0-6, five frees), P Hughes, N Murphy (0-3, one free).
Subs: P Laffey for E McHugh (31 mins), Luke Towey for K McKenna (h/t), P McNamara for D Cummins (40), B Gorman (0-1) for N Ewing (43), A Marren (0-3, one mark) for P Hughes (49).
Referee: P Maguire (Longford).
Westmeath 0-13 Laois 0-10
A fine second-half display enabled Westmeath to edge out promotion rivals Laois by three points in a hard-fought game in Mullingar .
Laois raced into an early four-point lead before the returning John Heslin opened Westmeath’s account in the ninth minute. With Paul Cahillane and Evan O’Carroll prominent in attack, the visitors had more of the play but Ger Egan’s accuracy from frees kept Westmeath in touch, and they trailed by just two points (0-7 to 0-5) at the break.
An inspirational point from Westmeath captain Kieran Martin halved the deficit a minute after the restart. Great points from play by Sam Duncan and Luke Loughlin had them 0-13 to 0-9 ahead approaching the end of normal time.
Laois’ efforts to manufacture a goal were thwarted by a resolute Westmeath defence and a late Donie Kingston free was not enough to prevent them from securing a vital win.
WESTMEATH: E Carberry; K Daly, R Wallace, B Sayeh; K Maguire, F Boyle, J Dolan; S Duncan (0-1), D Corroon; G Egan (0-9, eight frees), J Heslin (0-1), J Gonoud; L Loughlin (0-1), K Martin (0-1), R O'Toole.
Subs: F Coyne for Loughlin (70 +1 mins), N Mulligan for O'Toole (70 + 4 mins).
LAOIS: G Brody; D Seale, D Booth, G Dillon; M Scully, S Attride, C Begley; J O'Loughlin, K Meaney; D O'Connor (0-1), D Kingston (0-1, free), C Boyle (0-1); P Cahillane (0-3, two frees), E O'Carroll (0-4, two frees, one 45), M Barry.
Subs: T Collins for Seale (26 mins), E Lowry for Barry (46), P Kingston for O'Connor (48), K Lillis for Meaney (57), R Munnelly for Cahillane (65).
Referee: S Hurson (Tyrone).
Offaly 0-15 Carlow 1-9
After a series of near misses, Offaly finally got a win under their belts against Carlow in Tullamore.
It was a deserved win for the home side, despite Carlow imploding late on as they received two red cards and one black in injury time.
Offaly had to dig deep for their win after trailing by 1-5 to 0-7 at half-time, the Carlow goal coming from a Paul Broderick penalty.
Offaly were the better team in the second half, even though they still trailed 1-8 to 0-10 heading into the final quarter. However, they finished powerfully, scoring five of the final six points for the win.
OFFALY: P Dunican; C Horan, E Rigney, D Dempsey; C Donoghue, J Moloney (0-1), P McConway; E Carroll (0-1), C Mangan; S Horan (0-1), P Cunningham (0-1, free), N Darby; B Allen (0-4, two frees), A Sullivan (0-3), R McNamee (0-1).
Subs: N Dunne (0-2, one free) for C Horan (33 mins), N McNamee (0-1, one free) for Carroll (54), N Bracken for R McNamee (70).
CARLOW: R Sansom; B Kavanagh, S Redmond, BJ Molloy; J Morrissey, C Moran (0-1), C Lawlor; B Murphy (0-2), S Murphy; S Gannon (0-1), D Foley (0-1), L Walker; P Broderick (1-3, 1-0 pen, two frees, one 45), D O'Brien, D St Ledger.
Subs: D Walsh (0-1, free) for Broderick (50 mins), E Ruth for Redmond (53), C Crowley for Walker (55), D Moran for Kavanagh (66).
Referee: J Bermingham (Cork).
