All-Ireland SFC qualifiers round-up:Cían Ward made sure there was no grey areas involved in tonight's clash at Breffni Park as the Meathforward blasted home four goals in the Royal County's 5-8 to 2-8 victory over Louth.
Twelve months on from the controversial Leinster final that was won by Meath, tonight’s game had drawn over 18,000 through the gates for what looked like one of the ties of the first round.
In the end it was a rather poor affair, marked by the personal performances of Ward and Louth’s Darren Clarke, who hit all but one of the Wee County’s scores, with the other coming from a late penalty from Paddy Keenan.
It was Ward, though, that was the star of the show, scoring 4-3 in total and making a mockery of the decision to not play him against Kildare in the Leinster Championship defeat.
Working brilliantly off breaking ball, Ward struck home his first on 15 minutes with a blistering left-foot shot that gave Seán Connor no chance in the Louth goal.
Showing his versatility he fired home his second with the right foot on the half-hour, a score that proved the difference between the teams at the break after Darren Clarke had scored his side’s opening goal
Ward finished the game off with two strikes in a two-minute spell in the second half, bringing to nine his tally of championship goals, again scoring the first with his left and finishing off with a blistering right-foot shot.
Keenan fired home a penalty on 64 minutes but there was still time for Meath to add a fifth, with Paddy Gilsenan scoring his first goal for Meath two minutes into injury time.
In tonight's other ties, Offalycan arguably lay claim to the biggest shock of the round as they saw off Monaghanon a scoreline of 1-18 to 1-10 in Tullamore, while goals from Darren Strong and Colm Begley helped Laoissee off Tipperary2-16 to 0-11 in Portlaoise.
The performance of the first round came earlier today when Londonshowed their performance against Mayo earlier in the summer was no fluke as they claimed their first championship win since 1977 with a comprehensive 0-15 to 0-9 victory over Fermanaghat Ruislip.
Paul Coggins’s side were nearly out the gate by half-time, leading by 0-9 to 0-1 with the aid of the breeze. Their dominance was summed up by the fact that the Ulster side took 32 minutes before Tomás Corrigan opened their account.
Pádraig McGoldrick had got London’s first score and Eoin O’Neill and Kevin O’Leary both scored two points each in a first half in which the home side were also guilty of some wayward shooting.
Fermanagh’s John O’Flanagan found his range at the start of the second half and with 10 minutes to play they had reduced the margin to four (0-12 to 0-8) after the wing forward landed his fifth point.
London, though, were not going to make the same mistake again after letting Mayo secure a late draw and closed out the game with points from Ciarán McCallion, Killian Phair and Cathal O'Sullivan.
There was also a six-point margin in Belfast, where Antrimbeat Westmeathby 0-16 to 1-7 at Casement Park to take their place in tomorrow's second-round draw.
Last year's beaten finalists Downwere pushed all the way by Clareat Cusack Park, with the Banner men scoring five unanswered points late on to equal matters at 1-12 apiece before Paul McComiskey scored the winner for the Ulster side.
The Mick O'Dwyer qualifier bandwagon got going again in Aughrim as Wicklowbeat Sligoby 1-18 to 0-16.
The home side were three points up at half-time (0-10 to 0-7) but Adrian Marren’s point-scoring drew the Yeatsmen level midway through the second half.
Conor McGraynor scored the game’s only goal to push Wicklow four points clear and despite losing David Givney to a red card, they finished the game the stronger as they pulled away to win by five.
A fine second-half display helped Longforddefy the odds and send Cavancrashing out on a scoreline of 2-16 to 1-11 at Breffni Park.
Longford trailed by a point (0-7 to 0-6) at the interval but a Seán McCormack free had Glen Ryan’s side level at eight points each early in the second half.
Veteran forward Paul Barden scored the game’s first goal to put Longford five points clear (1-10 to 0-8) and although Cavan trimmed that back to a point, they were hit with a double whammy after Gareth Swift was sent off before Brian Kavanagh fired home a stunning left-foot volley to seal the win.
Today's football qualifier results and fixtures
London 0-15, Fermanagh 0-9.
Antrim 0-16, Westmeath 1-7
Down 1-13, Clare 1-12
Longford 2-16 Cavan 1-11
Wicklow 1-18 Sligo 0-16
Meath 5-8 Louth 2-8
Offaly 1-18 Monaghan 1-10
Laois 2-16 Tipperary 0-11