Louth cruise to Murphy Cup win
 Louth
3-14
Leitrim 2-11
Tommy Murphy Cup Final
Louth proved too battle-hardened for Leitrim as they comfortably claimed
the Tommy Murphy Cup with a comprehensive six-point victory at Croke Park
on Sunday.
The sides traded early points before Louth stole an early advantage through
a goal from Brian White who had a simple tap-in to the net.
The greater physical presence of Louth was proving crucial, they restricted
Leitrim’s players to limited possession around the middle of the
field.
Leitrim’s attackers struggled all day and while they knocked over
occasional singles from John Glancy Louth matched them point for point
then added a Shane Lennon goal and a point from Ray Finnegan to lead 2-7
to 0-5 at the interval.
The second-half continued in a similar vein with the Louth defence in
top form.
Leitrim’s substitute Declan Maxwell introduced at the break scored
a fine point at the beginning of the second-half but this was quickly
cancelled out by a Darren Clarke score for the Wee County men.
Leitrim added a measure of respectability to the scoreboard with late
goals from Noel Doonan and Maxwell but the result was hardly in doubt
when JP Rooney scored Louth’s third goal in the final minutes to
send the trophy north.
Louth deployed a blanket defence and were extremely hard to break down
in the final and in the likes of Clarke and Rooney have forwards who will
always score at this level.
Leitrim are still a work in progress and must be wondering how far they
could have gone this year if highly-talented forward Declan Maxwell had
been fully-fit and able to start matches rather than being restricted
to brief appearances when sprung from the bench. He was excellent again
on Sunday being his side’s most potent attacking threat.
These are two of the emerging counties in Gaelic football and while they
lack the players to compete at the very top level they will no longer
be considered among the whipping boys of the sport. |
