GAA | Croke Park anguish for Louth in All-Ireland Final defeat

Louth’s dreams of landing a record-setting fourth All-Ireland Ladies Junior Football Championship came to an end on Sunday at Croke Park when they were pipped to the title by Fermanagh on an afternoon of high drama in the capital.

Pegged as outsides on sports betting sites from the outset, Louth were ultimately undone by the brilliance of Fermanagh’s Eimear Smyth, whose virtuoso performance delivered a haul of 1-9 for the victors.

Fermanagh had scored 1-11 overall to Louth’s 0-12 by the final whistle in Dublin and Smyth’s prolific display for the Ernesiders was the difference between the sides in the end.

The Wee County battled bravely throughout but couldn’t keep a lid on the effervescent Smyth, who seemed to score at will when she was fed the ball by her teammates.

Right from the first whistle, Louth felt the squeeze and Smyth and her teammate Blaithin Brogue gave Fermanagh the perfect start with two early unanswered points.

Smyth reacted quickly to turn a half chance into a goal on the ten-minute mark when she stretched highest to gather the ball ahead of Louth keeper Rebecca Lambe Fagan and after that, the Wee County were always facing an uphill task.

Louth showed spirit and dragged themselves back into the contest mid-way through the half, however, Fermanagh’s lead was increased to five points through Smyth’s unerring accuracy from dead balls and the green-clad ladies went into the half-time break in total command with a lead of 1-5 to 0-5.

Driven on by Paul Hanlon’s words at the interval, Louth looked energised in the early exchanges of the second half and narrowed the deficit to just two points through some finely-placed efforts. Stopper Lambe Fagan did brilliantly twice to deny Fermanagh a second goal through Niamh McManus, though the favourites did manage to knock two points over to enhance their buffer.

When the clock hit 40 minutes, Fermanagh’s Ciara Clarke was sin-binned however, giving Louth a sliver of hope, which they did their utmost to capitalise on. With Kate Flood central, the Reds enoyed a scoring flurry and moved to within a point of Louth before Smyth took centre stage for Fermanagh again.

With her talismanic presence the driving force, Fermanagh eased over the line and landed their first junior title since 2020. The Ernesiders will move up grades to intermediate level next term where they are likely to be priced down the reckoning on betting apps in the markets for silverware.

Teams:

LOUTH: Rebecca Lambe Fagan; Louise Byrne, Eimear Murray, Eilis Hand; Holly Lambe Sally, Áine Breen (c), Ceire Nolan; Aoife Halligan, Eimear Byrne; Lucy White, Aoife Russell (0-1), Claire McDonald; Niamh Rice (0-2), Kate Flood (0-8, 7f), Seoda Matthews.

Subs: Mischa Rooney (0-1) for Lambe Sally (HT), Caitlin O’Reilly for McDonald (49’), Rachel O’Connor Leonard for Russell (52’), Caoimhe Boyle for Matthews (60’), Katie Doheny for White (60’).

FERMANAGH: Megan Maguire; Ciara Clarke, Molly McGloin, Eimear Keenan; Shannan McQuade (c), Courtney Murphy, Cadhla-Cara Bogue; Brenda Bannon, Lisa Maguire; Dannielle Maguire, Joanne Doonan, Aoife McCabe; Bláthín Bogue (0-2), Eimear Smyth (1-9, 6f), Niamh McManus.

Subs: Bronagh Smyth for McManus (49’), Sarah Britton for D Maguire (57).

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