Newtown have the drive to finish it

Louth SFC Final - Newtown Blues 1-15 Mattock Rangers 1-12:THE NEWTOWN Blues produced a superb second-half display to claim their 18th Louth senior football championship at County Grounds in Drogheda yesterday.

The Drogheda side trailed their south county rivals by two points at the interval but a Barry Sharkey goal, just seconds into the second half, laid the foundations for a victory that gave the Blues their first title since 2001.

However, it took a superb intervention by half-forward Hugh McGinn to seal the Joe Ward Trophy for Newtown as David Reid's late equalising goal looked to have earned a replay but corner forward Colm Judge had time enough to win a couple of frees that McGinn converted with aplomb to hand the Blues the title.

Mattock began smartly and with David Reid and Christy Grimes on form with the placed ball they edged a timid first half, 0-9 to 0-7.

Right from the throw-in Sharkey was allowed to gallop 40 yards unmolested to ram a shot into the net and immediately put the Blues in the driving seat.

With McGinn keeping the scoreboard tipping over the Drogheda side looked comfortable but Reid kept Mattock in the hunt with a fine haul of 1-6, including a smart goal just four minutes from the end. But the Blues had the momentum to craft the winning scores in the final minutes.

NEWTOWN BLUES:M Harte; T Costello, C Reynolds (0-1), C Owen; A O'Brien, R Hughes, E Judge; B Kermode, K Lynch (0-1); B Sharkey (1-0), B Phillips, H McGinn (0-9, seven frees); C Judge (0-3), I McManus (0-1), S Moonan. Subs: N Costello for Owen (20 mins), M Phillips for B Phillips (24 mins), J Murray for Hughes (50 mins), D Nugent for Kermonde (54 mins).

MATTOCK RANGERS:M Englishby; David Brennan, R Sherlock, I Sherlock; P Bannon, D Englishby, J McCabe; C Grimes (0-4, three frees), M Brennan (0-1); A Reid, D Reid (1-6, three frees), Darren Brennan; S Grimes, R Brennan, A Finnegan (0-1). Subs: D Bannon for Finnegan (48 mins), N Callan for Darren Brennan (51 mins).

Referee:G Malone.