Louth proved too strong in the second half for Fermanagh outscoring them 2-11 to 0-5 as they eased to a 13-point win at Downdallshill in Dundalk.
The loss of John Paul McGarry just seven minutes after the restart was a major blow to the Ernemen with the big Lisbellaw man causing the Louth defence all sorts of problems in the first 35 minutes as his side led 1-7 to 0-7 at the break.
The goal came from a Danann McKeogh penalty after McGarry had been hauled down in front of goal. Louth’s top marksman on the day, Darren Geoghegan with 0-8, accounted for three of his side’s first half scores.
Louth upped their game in the second half taking a more direct approach out of defence where John Casey and Leon Fox were dominant, and used the full width of the pitch to open up the game, something they had failed to do in a tight first half.
A goal from David Stephenson, set up by full forward Conor Murphy who drew two defenders before hand-passing to Stephenson to drill the ball past Chris McKernan in the Fermanagh goal just after McGarry had left the field with what looked like a shoulder injury, put Louth in front, 1-8 to 1-7 for the first time in the game with 42 minutes gone.
Fermanagh’s first score of the second half didn’t arrive until the 51st minute when John Duffy pointed a 30-metre free. At that stage his side were still in it, 1-11 to 1-8, but with a lack of fire-power up front, relying on Duffy frees wasn’t going to cut it.
Louth were well in control leading 1-15 to 1-10 on 64 minutes before the game was effectively killed off when Peter Fortune grabbed his side’s second goal to put eight points between the sides, 2-15 to 1-10.
Fermanagh did have the final say though, a Duffy point, his seventh of the day, in added time.
Scorers – Louth: D Geoghan 0-8 (6f), P Fortune 1-1, A Plunkett, J Casey 0-2 each, D Stephenson 1-0, J Costello, S Phelan, M Gahan, L Fox, S Kettle 0-1 each. Fermanagh: D McKeogh 1-1 (1 45, 1-0 pen), J Duffy 0-7 (6f), JP McGarry, C McShea, T Duane, B Corrigan 0-1 each
Louth: C Clancy 6; A Smyth 5, C Quigley 6, S Kettle 6; J Casey 6, L Fox 6, A McGuinness 5; B Goss Kieran 5, P Fortune 7; A Plunkett 6, J Costello 6, T Dowdall 6; M Gahan 6, C Murphy 7, D Geoghegan 8. Subs: S Hodgins for Plunkett (56), B Corcoran for Stephenson (65)
Fermanagh: C McKernan 7, R McGurn 5, R Porteus 6, C Duffy 5 B Corrigan 5, R Bogue 6, T Duane 5; C McShea 6, J Torney 5; JP McGarry 6, A McShea, J Duffy 8; T Keenan, S Corrigan, D McKeogh. Subs: O Johnston 5 for McKeogh (18), F McKinstry for McGarry 4 (42), O Farry for McBrien (56), S Cleary for Torney (56), S Phelan for Fortune (69)
Referee: M Redmond (Kildare)