Monaghan 2-9 Louth 2-13
Louth emerged slightly stronger in this U-14 development squad fixture played on Sunday 10th Apr in Cloghan. This was a very useful exercise with some excellent performances in spite of the fact that many of these players had already been in action the previous day. Louth were first out of the blocks and scored four points in the first quarter to Monaghan’s one, taking some good scores from play. At this stage Monaghan were struggling to make any headway up front and too often the forwards were failing to shoot even when in good scoring positions. The defence however was quite solid and the players in the middle area battlled manfully against a very mobile Louth team.
In the second quarter Monaghan started to gain more of a foothold around the centre and were slowly making inroads into Louth’s lead when the visitors broke upfield and worked the ball into the net to give themselves a comfortable five point cushion. However Monaghan regrouped and reduced the deficit to four points at the break.
Monaghan hit a purple patch early in the second half, taking some fine long range points and also hitting the bar before a well taken goal brought Monaghan into the lead for the first time. It was a tenuous lead however and Louth hit back when some slack defending gave Louth a soft goal. Louth moved on in the latter stages with some additional points as many of the Monaghan players tired to go six points in front. Monaghan’s responded with the last couple of scores but ultimately ran out of time in the end.
Adam Counihan- Ballybay
Stephen Kelly- Donaghmoyne
Conor Lynch- Latton
Adrian Fields- Emyvale
Andrew McPhillips- Rockcorry
Barry Kerr- Cremartin
Shane Lambe- Aughnamullen
Francis Hughes- Clontibret
Cormac Duffy- Ballybay
Dylan McNally- Seans
Niall Murphy- Seans
Owen McKearney- Ballybay
Shane Hand- Corduff
Patrick O’Neill-Ballybay
Brandon Rice- Blayney
By michael Fri 15th Apr
