Ryan Walsh Leads St Fechins to Another County Title
Louth Senior Hurling Championship Final 2026
From Integral GAA Grounds, Drogheda
St Fechins 2-18 Naomh Moninne 2-16
St Fechins are county champions again.
They won their last title in 2024 – only 2 years ago – but it felt like a famine with the emotion they poured out after today’s final.
Led by their Tipperary chief Ray Delaney, St Fechins started the game with intent.
When Man of the Match Ryan Walsh got his second goal on 21 minutes, it sent the Termonfeckin men into a 2-10 to 0-2 lead.
In that time, they completed dominated the Toberona men in all areas of the field. Towering around the middle and landing the ball at every opportunity into Ryan Walsh, who was in fine form inside. He had 2-4 in a first half, where every thing he touched – turned to gold.
Darragh Stone (0-3), Paddy Lynch (0-2) and Sean Hodgins, David Stephenson & Ciaran Brennan with a point apiece added to Walsh’s tally in the opening half.
Naomh Moninne had a late first half rally to revive their title defence, a revival led by full forward Conor Murphy, who worked some brilliant scores, including a spectacular goal – off limited supply.
Half Time – St Fechins 2-12 Naomh Moninne 1-7
Finn Carter scored two impressive points in the just after the break, along with a Mark Gahan score to narrow the gap.
The impressive David Stephenson added another point just before Moninne’s Murphy landed another major to pull the game back to two points with 42 minutes on the clock.
At this point, nobody would have blamed St Fechins for thinking it was deja-vu a year on.
Not today.
Stalwarts Paddy Lynch, Peter Fortune and Stephenson led their side with the experience they have in the locker. They ensured the house was tight at the back and also, the scoreboard kept ticking at the other end. Fechins’s game management was much more controlled, 12 months on, they continued to knock over well-worked points to keep Moninne at arms length.
Full Time – St Fechins 2-18 Naomh Moninne 2-16
Man of the Match: Ryan Walsh
Louth GAA Chairman Sean McClean presents Man of the Match award to Ryan Walsh of St Fechins
St Fechins team: Dan O’Neill; Conor Higgins, Cormac McAuley, Conor Mathews; Cathal Moynagh, Peter Fortune, Sean Hodgins (0-1); Donal Ryan, Danny Morgan; Ian Connor, Paddy Lynch (0-6, 5f), Ciaran Brennan (0-1); Sean Kerrisk, Ryan Walsh (2-4), Darragh Stone (0-3).
Subs: David Stephenson (0-3) for Ciaran Brennan 15’, Seaghan Connelly for Donal Ryan 40’, Ryan McGinley for Conor Higgins 46’, Shane Curtis for Sean Kerrisk 56’.
Naomh Moninne team: Conor Whyte; Sean Magill, Aaron McGuinness-Smith (0-1), Darren O’Hanrahan (0-1); James Murphy, Michael O’Shea, Kyle Rafferty; Darren Geoghegan(0-4, 4f), Finn Carter (0-2); Ciaran McKelvey (0-1), Tom O’Dwyer, John Casey; Mark Gahan (0-4), Conor Murphy (2-2), Sam Phelan.
Subs: Matthew Fee for James Murphy HT’, Gavin Baxter for Darren O’Hanrahan 36’, Fionn Cumiskey (0-1) for Tom O’Dwyer 43’, Eoin Murphy for Ciaran McKelvey 60’.
Referee: PJ Murray (St Finians Swords)
Photos by Ciaran Culligan Photography
