Louth ease to victory over Longford in the Shield Final

Louth 5-14 Longford 2-1
A blistering first quarter by Louth in the Gerry Reilly U-16 FT Shield Final (3rd placed teams from the ’round robin’ section) played in Millbrook, Oldcastle on Saturday afternoon made the result never in doubt. Tristan Knowles set the ball rolling for Louth with a goal, though it was a ball that should have been cleared out by the Longford defence. Louth added 2 quick points before Shane Mathews got their second goal. Louth were not finished and had 3 more unanswered points and then yet another goal by Ciaran Keenan. They were leading 3-6 to 0-0 before Longford got their first score from a free by Aidan McGuire in the 16th minute.
This seemed to settle Longford a bit and they added 2 points (James Shields & Dylan Farrell). Points ere exchanged before Longford had a great goal chance wide of the post. At the other end Louth’s Tristan Knowles got their 4th goal giving them a huge lead at the break.

H/T: Louth 4-8 Longford 0-4

A more determined Longford in the second half were playing much better. A goal coming off the post from a 45 and finished to the net by Ronan Lynch gave them a much needed lift. Dylan Farrel’s goal in the 54th minute after a good spell by Longford had them trailing by 7 points(4-12 to 2-11). But Louth’s 5th goal by Shane Mathews in the 55th minute put an end to Longford’s revival.
Overall Louth proved to be much to strong on the day.

Louth’s, Ciaran Keenan was presented with the ‘Man of the match’ award by Dermot Monaghan (Oldcastle GFC)

Louth’s Joint Captains, Joe Mulholland and Alan Connor were presented wih the Gerry Reilly Shield Trophy by Dermot Monaghan (Oldcastle GFC)

Scorers for Louth: Shane Mathews 2-3, Ciaran Keenan 1-5, Tristan Knowles 2-0, Gavin Gregory 0-3, Sam Kenny, Thomas Clarke and Joe Mulholland 0-1 each

Scorers for Longford: Dylan Farrell 1-4, Ronan Lynch 1-0, Aidan McGuire 0-3, Jordan Shields, Paulis Merkelis, Dylan Glancy and Diarmuid Sheehan 0-1 each

Ref: Gerry Skelly (Meath)