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15th September 2019
01:52pm BST

But you suspect that first-half would have been a lot different had Fermanagh taken their early chances. Aoife Flanagan and Eimear Smyth both missed the target, while a brilliant ninth-minute save from Una Pearson denied Smyth a goal that would have given Fermanagh the lead.
Instead Louth and Flood began to punish their Ulster opponents. Flood kicked frees in the 12th and 14th minutes to make it 0-3 to 0-0, and although two Smith frees closed the gap to one, Louth powered into half-time.
A sweeping move resulted in a great Niamh Rice point, and with Eimear Byrne again providing the assist Flood made it 0-5 to 0-2 after 24 minutes.
And five minutes from the interval the vital goal arrived. An arrowed pass from Rice picked out Eimear Byrne, who sent Flood in on goal. A combination of her power and determination improved the chance, and she found the net via the underside of the crossbar.
Louth were 1-6 to 0-2 ahead at half-time and six minutes after the restart they had stretched that lead by another three – Susan Byrne, Flood and Lauren Boyle found the target.
The introduction of Aisling Woods gave Fermanagh a lift and soon after that Lisa Maguire had a goal disallowed when she illegally dispossessed Sarah Quinn, but she didn’t have to wait long to make amends when she fired to the net in the 38th minute to make it 1-9 to 1-2.
There was no panic from Louth though and 12 minutes from time Byrne and Boyle combined before Rice crashed Louth’s second goal to end any doubt.
LOUTH: U Pearson; E Hand, S Quinn, S McLoughlin; C Nolan, M McMahon, D Osborne; E Byrne, A Byrne; R Carr, S Byrne, A Russell; L Boyle, K Flood (c), N Rice. Subs: A Breen for Carr (37), S Woods for A Byrne (48), S Matthews for Breen (56-58 blood), J McGuinness for Rice (57). FERMANAGH: S Murphy; S McQuaid, E Murphy, M Flynn; A Maguire, C Murphy, M McGloin; R O’Reilly, A Flanagan; L Maguire, J Doonan (c), D Maguire; A O’Brien, E Smyth, B Bogue. Subs: A McGovern for C Murphy (35-36 blood), A Woods for McGloin (35), D McManus for O’Brien (40), N Connolly for Maguire (47), M Maguire for McQuaid (54), A McGovern for A Maguire (58). Referee: Kevin Phelan (Laois).SCORERS
Louth: K Flood 1-8 (5f), N Rice 1-2, L Boyle 1-2 (1f), S Byrne 0-1. Fermanagh: E Smyth 0-4 (4f), A Woods 1-1, L Maguire 1-0, B Bogue 0-1.
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