Gaelic Games

Armagh make dramatic comeback to draw level in Drogheda

Stefan Forker scores goal to inspire Ulster side as Louth lose grip on proceedings

Louth’s Derek Maguire is tackled by Kyle Carragher of Armagh in the National Football League Division 2 game in Drogheda. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho.
Louth’s Derek Maguire is tackled by Kyle Carragher of Armagh in the National Football League Division 2 game in Drogheda. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho.
Mon Feb 03 2014 - 01:00

Louth 0-16
Armagh 1-13

Armagh plundered 1-5 without reply in the final 13 minutes to somehow rescue a share of the spoils in Drogheda. For 55 minutes Paul Grimley's men were second best in almost every facet, but a scrambled goal from substitute Stefan Forker inspired a dramatic comeback.

Oisín McKeever could well have nicked an unlikely victory in the dying seconds, but his effort drifted narrowly wide.

A defeat would have been extremely harsh on Aidan O’Rourke’s troops, but they will still be doing some soul-searching this week to ascertain just how a nine-point, second-half lead slipped from their grasp.

“We’re very frustrated,” O’Rourke said afterwards. “We were eight points up with 16 or 17 minutes to go and just stopped. For 50 minutes there was only one quality team on the pitch, only one team playing football, only one team winning ball, using it properly and working hard. But as soon as you take your foot off the gas, a good team like Armagh are going to come at you.”

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Louth retired at half-time with a six-point cushion, led by nine soon after the restart, and when that lead was cut back to six, they bounced back to open a 0-16 to 0-8 advantage with 15 minutes remaining.

Although they didn't score again, that should probably have been enough to see them over the finish line.

Emptied bench
Overall Grimley wasn't happy with his side's performance. He made three changes before half-time and had emptied his bench by the 65th minute. "Substitutions are hit and miss, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but today they did thank God," he said.

LOUTH: S McCoy; P Rath, P Reilly, G O'Hare; J O'Brien, D Finnegan, L Shevlin; P Keenan (0-4), B Donnelly (0-2, one free), A Reid, C Judge (0-4, three frees), D Byrne (0-3, two frees); A McDonnell, E O'Connor (0-1), D Maguire (0-2). Subs: K McLaughlin for O'Brien (8 mins), C Doyle for Maguire (51 mins), S Campbell for Byrne (51 mins), J Kermode for O'Connor (61 mins), D Clarke for Judge (70 mins), C Rafferty for Reid (70 mins).
ARMAGH: P McEvoy; P Hughes, C Vernon, M Murray; M Shields, A Mallon, R Gurgan (0-1); J Lavery, E Rafferty (0-2 frees); S Campbell (0-2), J Hanratty, R Tasker; J Clarke (0-3, two frees), T Kernan (0-4, two frees), K Carragher. Subs: C McKeever (0-1) for Hanratty (24 mins), A Forker for Hughes (24 mins), S Harold for Lavery (31 mins), B Mallon for Carragher (44 mins), S Forker (1-0) for Tasker (60 mins), O McKeever for A Forker (65 mins).
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).