Louth 0-13 Wexford 1-8:THE EXPERIMENTAL square-ball rule almost came to Wexford's rescue in Drogheda yesterday as Louth hung on to their 100 per cent start under new manager Peter Fitzpatrick.

With just three minutes of normal time remaining and the home side were four points to the good, Paddy Byrne took full advantage of the new dictat to put goalkeeper Neil Gallagher under pressure and fist a Ciarán Lyng centre to the bottom corner of the net.

Wexford played second fiddle for most of the first half and were fortunate to be just a point behind at the break, 0-6 to 0-5.

Louth continued to hold the upper hand in the second period and stretched their lead thanks to another point from Ronan Carroll. Three points in as many minutes from Brian White and Colm Judge (two) opened a four-point gap.

Lyng pulled one back for Wexford, but it was the Model County’s turn to count their blessings soon afterwards when Judge fired over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Carroll and Eric Bradley swapped points to make it 0-12 to 0-8 as Louth continued to cruise, but that late Byrne goal made for a nervy final few minutes for them.

LOUTH: N Gallagher; D Byrne, D Finnegan, R Greene; R Finnegan, A Hoey, J O'Brien; P Keenan, R Carroll (0-3); D Crilly, A McDonnell (0-2), M Brennan; C Judge (0-4), JP Rooney (0-1), B White (0-3, all frees). Subs: D Maguire for Brennan (26 mins), S Lennon for D Crilly (38 mins).

WEXFORD: A Masterson; J Wadding, D Walsh, N Murphy; B Malone, D Murphy, A Doyle; D Waters, B Doyle; P Naughter, C Byrne, A Flynn (0-2); B Brosnan (0-2, one free), R Barry (0-2), P Byrne (1-0). Subs: C Lyng (0-1, free)for Naughter (49 mins), E Bradley (0-1)for B Doyle (55 mins), C Morris for Malone (58 mins), S Roche for Flynn (66 mins), C Kennedy for Murphy (68 mins).

Referee: C Branagan(Down).