Hurlers Finish League Campaign with a Draw

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 3A.

Monaghan 1-13, Louth 1-13.

14 man Monaghan snatched a share of the spoils with a point deep into stoppage time in this closely contested if never spectacular contest that was played in good conditions in St Mary’s Park, Castleblayney, yesterday.

A draw was no more than Monaghan deserved as they had somewhat the better of the exchanges for most of the 1^st half until they suffered a real body blow with the dismissal of Eamon Collins on a 2^ndyellow card after 28 minutes.

Louth capitalised on their numerical advantage at this stage to rattle over 4 unanswered points from Niall Arthur, one from a free, and they went on to lead at half-time by 0-11 to 1-6.

Within 12 minutes of the resumption Monaghan were level with points from Niall Garland, and a Fergal Rafter free, before retaking the lead through Rafter in the 15^th minute.

Niall Arthur capitalise for an opportunist goal in the 16^th minute to give the advantage back to the visitors but Monaghan never allowed them to push on as they would have liked and pulled the game back to parity on 3 occasions before Louth took the lead for the last time in the 33^rd minute, only to be hauled back to parity again 5 minutes later with a point by Niall Garland salvaging a share of the spoils for the home side.

Teams and Scorers: Monaghan: Patrick Bermingham, Jamie Guinan, Kevin Crawley, Brian Flanagan, Niall Garland 0-3, Patrick Finnegan, Martin Murphy, Mark Treanor 1-0, Peter Treanor, Fergal Rafter 0-8 (7f), Aaron Kenny, Shane McNally, Cormac McNally 0-1, Eamon Collins, Brian McGuigan 0-1. Subs: Padraic McGahon for S McNally (30), Conor Boyle for C McNally (54). .

Louth: Stephen Hackett, Mark Wallace, Mike Lyons, Conor Matthews, Stephen Kettle, Ronan Byrne 0-2 (2f), Andrew McCrave, Donal Ryan, Mark Molloy 0-1, Niall Arthur 1-9 (0-5f), Gerry Arthur, Gerard Smyth 0-1, Seaghan Conneely, Shane Callan, Paddy Lynch. Subs: Paddy McCormick for P Lynch (42), Diarmuid Murphy for C Matthews (46), Paul Matthews for S Conneely (55), John Crosby for G Smyth (65). Referee: Alfie Devine (Westmeath).