All-Ireland SFC QF: Louth dig deep for landmark win
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final
Louth 0-27
Monaghan 2-18
By Paul Keane at Croke Park (Official GAA Website)
A man down for the majority of the game, gallant Louth still found a way to secure a dramatic All-Ireland SFC quarter-final win at Croke Park, powering through to the last four for the first time since 1957.
Fresh off their huge win over Ulster champions Armagh, when they conjured a late, late match-winning goal, Gavin Devlin’s side edged another arm wrestle with a neighbouring county by reeling off the last four points of the game.
Tadhg McDonnell, Ciarán Byrne and Ryan Burns accounted for those four points with substitutes McDonnell and Byrne providing a huge kick from the bench as they finished with three points apiece.
Captain Sam Mulroy led the team in stunning fashion again too while Craig Lennon, Dara McDonnell and James Maguire all played their parts in a Trojan effort and a famous win.
Having captured a breakthrough Leinster SFC title success in 2025, this is arguably an even bigger win for the Wee County who will return to Croke Park on July 11/12 with designs on locking down a shock final spot.
The win was all the more impressive as they lost midfield Seán Callaghan to a straight red card in the eighth minute following what referee Seán Hurson determined was a high challenge on Oisín McGorman.
Monaghan, typically, fought to the bitter end but will rue the absence of Rory Beggan due to injury.
He is among a number of veteran Monaghan stars that may now consider their futures after the heartbreaking quarter-final loss which has ended their season.
News of Beggan’s unavailability filtered around Croke Park beforehand and came as a significant blow to Monaghan’s hopes of a fifth win in this season’s Championship.
The Scotstown man was taken off late in the Round 3 win over Westmeath and wasn’t even fit for bench duties this time.
Jamie Mooney, from the Cremartin club and the captain of the Monaghan U-20 team that reached this season’s Ulster final, was drafted in as the replacement.
It was a huge call and, in the circumstances, Mooney acquitted himself well though notably struggled to get his kick-outs away in the closing minutes of each half.
For the first 30 minutes, Mooney was reliable on his kick-outs, consistently showing picking overloads on either wing and trusting Monaghan to either win possession or sweep up the breaks.
But when three kick-outs in a row found Louth hands in the lead up to half time, it swung the momentum Louth’s way and they reeled off four scores in a row, amounting to 0-05 thanks to a Ciarán Downey two-pointer.
Mooney also had a shaky moment in the closing moments of the half when he fumbled a Craig Lennon point attempt that dropped short.
By that stage, Louth were down to 14 players having spent most of the half without midfielder Seán Callaghan.
He was dismissed in the eighth minute after following through on Oisín McGorman with a dangerous, high challenge.
Monaghan didn’t make enough use of the extra man because while they led 1-07 to 0-07 with 27 minutes on the clock, they should have been further ahead.
With an extra man for their 11 v 10 attacks, they needed to stay patient and to wait for openings to materialise but rushed a couple of shots and wasted them, tallying five first-half wides.
Mícheál Bannigan and later Andrew Woods also had shots at goal for Monaghan that were blocked as Louth grew in confidence.
Monaghan briefly got it going with four points in a two-minute spell between the 39th minute and 41st minutes.
But Louth dominated the third quarter to take a 0-20 to 1-12 lead with 20 minutes remaining.
All their big players came surging to the surface in this period with points from Mulroy, Lennon and even one from tough-tackling defender Donal McKenny.
Very few teams ever put Monaghan away early though and so it proved again, McCarron raising them again with a two-pointer and O’Hanlon palming in their second goal to nudge them a point up.
Stephen Mooney had a big impact when he came on, scoring a point, winning a free that was kicked wide and playing the pass across for O’Hanlon’s goal.
The teams were tied three times in the closing quarter hour but, just like the first half, Louth saved a strong kick for the vital final few minutes.
Trailing by a point again with 65 minutes on the clock, they got on top of Monaghan’s kick-out and reeled off those four points in a row to set the seal on a landmark win.
Louth scorers: Sam Mulroy 0-5 (0-3f), James Maguire 0-4, Ryan Burns 0-4, Ciarán Byrne 0-3, Tadhg McDonnell 0-3, Ciarán Downey 0-2 (1 tp), Dara McDonnell 0-2 (1 tp), Kieran McArdle 0-1, Craig Lennon 0-1, Conor Early 0-1, Donal McKenny 0-1.
Monaghan scorers: Jack McCarron 0-5 (2 tp), Andrew Woods 0-4, Mícheál Bannigan 0-4 (0-1f), Stephen O’Hanlon 1-0, Oisín McGorman 1-0, Conor McCarthy 0-3 (1 tp), Stephen Mooney 0-1, Max Maguire 0-1.
Louth: Niall McDonnell; Emmet Carolan, Donal McKenny, Daire Nally; Conall McKeever, Dara McDonnell, Craig Lennon; Conor Early, Seán Callaghan; James Maguire, Ciarán Downey, Conor Grimes; Kieran McArdle, Sam Mulroy, Ryan Burns.
Subs: Ciarán Byrne for McArdle 26-28 blood, Tadhg McDonnell for McKeever 41, Paul Mathews for Grimes 43, Tommy Durnin for Early 55, Byrne for McArdle 56, Ciarán Keenan for Maguire 66.
Monaghan: Jamie Mooney; Ryan Wylie, Killian Lavelle, Dylan Byrne; Dessie Ward, Ryan O’Toole, Conor McCarthy; Mícheál McCarville, Oisín McGorman; Aaron Carey, Mícheál Bannigan, Stephen O’Hanlon; Jack McCarron, Andrew Woods, Ryan McAnespie.
Subs: Stephen Mooney for McAnespie 41, Max Maguire for Carey 49, Darragh McElearney for McGowan 55, David Garland for Woods 63, Robbie Hanratty for Ward 66.
Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone).
