Fermanagh 2-19
Louth 3-20
LOUTH claimed the win in Brewster Park in the National Hurling League on Sunday afternoon, despite a valiant Fermanagh effort which saw them score two goals in the final quarter.
Sean Corrigan opened the scoring for Fermanagh after two minutes, before Louth went on a romp scoring 1-04 without reply inside six minutes.
Mark Gahan (2), Peter Fortune and Conor Murphy pointed for Louth before the clinical Ciaran McKelvey scored their first goal.
Danann McKeogh stopped the rot with a point for the Erne men, before Louth then swooped to their second goal when Andrew Cosgrave capitalized on a poor puck out to hit the net.
Sean Flynn, Corrigan and Caolan Duffy then traded scores, before Louth extended their advantage through points from Cosgrave and a free from McKelvey.
Fermanagh began to grow into the game through and they hit four without reply through Eoin Cleary, McKeogh, Eamonn Og Magee and the classy Corrigan.
McKelvey, Cosgrave and Darren Geoghan tagged on late scores for Louth, with Jimmy Tormey and Ben Corrigan replying for Fermanagh, to leave Louth with a 2-11 to 0-12 lead at half time.
Louth made the brighter start after the break with Cosgrave and McKelvey pointing in quick success to extend their advantage to six.
After a lengthy stoppage due to an injury, Duffy finished off a good move with 42 minutes played.
But then Louth struck back with their third goal of the game, the classy Cosgrave cutting inside the Erne defence before smashing to the net.
Despite conceding the third goal, Fermanagh rallied with McKeogh converting a free and Corrigan hammering over two big scores from distance to leave five between the teams.
Cheered on by the home crowd in Brewster Park, McKeogh cut the Louth advantage to four.
Fermanagh were in control and Corrigan was showing all of his class, again striking over from distance to leave three between the sides.
The final quarter was played at a frantic pace, with Louth reestablishing their four point cushion with another from Conor Murphy.
Then, with 60 minutes on the clock, Fermanagh scored their much-needed goal, when the ball was bundled over the line by Corrigan, after a shot from sub Cahir McManus was saved.
The game was then swung completely on its head when the Erne men scored their second goal.
The ball was lofted into the Erne forward line with McManus claiming and offloading to the onrunning Dylan Bannon firing to the net.
With eight minutes left to play, Cosgrave tagged on another free for Louth to reduce the Fermanagh lead to one, 2-19 to 3-15.
Cosgrave was in sublime form for Louth and he then managed to angle over to draw the game.
While Fermanagh missed a number of chances to go ahead, Cosgrave showed his clinical edge when he floated over from range for Louth.
Louth then extended their advantage to two with another good score from James Costello, as it was announced there would be five minutes of additional time to be played in Enniskillen.
While they battled to the end, Louth finished the stronger with Sean Flynn and Geoghan tagging on late scores to wrap up the league victory.
