Louth 0-13 Wexford 0-11
Louth will join Antrim in Division Three in 2017 following a gutsy win over promotion rivals Wexford in Drogheda.
With the sides level on points at the start of the day, the winners would secure a crucial head-to-head advantage ahead of next Sunday’s final round of games, and super subs Ryan Burns and Ger McSorley ensured it was Louth celebrating an instant return to the third tier.
Burns shrugged off being dropped from the starting line-up to restore Louth’s lead with less than a minute of normal-time on the clock, and he teed up McSorley to kick the insurance score in injury-time.
After an even start Louth eventually made the breeze count in the lead in to half-time, turning with a 0-10 to 0-5 cushion.
The sides traded scores after the break, but the excellent Donal Shanley belied his tender years to reel the home side in.
The more battle-hardened Ciaran Lyng and PJ Banville kicked the scores to drag Wexford level, but Burns ended a 30-minute barren spell for the hosts, before McSorley applied the icing.
Louth face Antrim in their final game next Sunday, which will now be a dress rehearsal for the Division 4 final on April 23rd.
Louth: C Lynch; P Rath, P Reilly, K Toner; D Maguire, D McMahon, K McLaughlin; J Stewart, J Califf (0-3, one free); A Williams, J McEneaney (0-1), T Durnin; D Byrne (0-3), C Grimes (0-3), C Doyle (0-1). Subs: R Burns (0-1) for Doyle (57), C McKeever for McLaughlin (57), C Judge for McEneaney (64), G McSorley (0-1) for J Califf (70+ Black Card), J McEneaney for Durnin (70+).
Wexford: A Masterson; J Rossiter, N Rossiter, J Wadding; B Malone, S Byrne, S Donohoe; C Kehoe, D Waters; A Flynn (0-1), B Brosnan, PJ
Banville (0-2); D Shanley (0-6, three frees), M O'Regan, J Tubritt (0-1). Subs: C Lyng (0-1) for A Flynn (ht), E Nolan for C Kehoe (54), K
Butler for M O’Regan (56), S Ryan for Tubritt (59), S Roche for Brosnan (70).
Referee: J Hickey (Carlow).
Waterford 0-12 London 0-13
London maintained a five season unbeaten run against Waterford when they turned around a two-point deficit during injury-time to record their first win of the Division Four campaign.
London led 0-8 to 0-7 at the break but played into a strong wind in the second half.
In front of a gate that totalled just 121 - of which only 42 paid - frees from Mark Gottsche and Adrian Hanlon, drew London level.
In the fourth of four additional minutes, London midfielder Cathal Greene fired the winning point over following a superb save by Waterford goalkeeper Stephen Enright.
This result is third one-point defeat of Waterford’s league season.
Waterford: S Enright; T Ó hUallacháin, M O'Gorman, T O'Gorman; M Curry, S Prendergast, R O'Ceallaigh; T Prendergast, C Prunty (0-1); G Crotty (0-2), C Guiry, JJ Hutchinson (0-9; 0-eight frees); L Lawlor, P Whyte, J Veale.
Subs: M O'Halloran for P Whyte (29), S Corcoran for J Veale (49), J O'Mahony for L Lawlor (50).
London: G McEvoy; P Butler, C Carty, C O'Neill; D McGreevey, D Ryan, C Dunne; C Greene (0-1), L Mulvey (0-1); M Gottsche (0-3f), L Gavaghan (0-1), D Molloy (0-1); A Hanlon (0-3; 0-2f), S Conroy (0-1f), D Moore (0-1).
Subs: C Dunne for C O'Neill (29), E Murray (0-1) for D Molloy (50), S Hickey for S Conroy (59), A McNulty for D Moore (67) and S Buckkey for L Mulvey (Black Card, 67).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary)
Antrim 2-13 Wicklow 1-12
The dead ball accuracy of Brian Neeson and impressive overall play from Tomas McCann built the solid foundation for Antrim’s victory and promotion into Division 3.
Neeson converted five frees while McCann and his fellow forwards were adept at finding space around Wicklow’s sweeper system. They used their first half wind advantage to open a five point half time lead.
Wicklow had to rely on free takers Rory Finn and Paul Cunningham for ten of their points but five wides in the last fifteen minutes, when they had clawed back a seven point deficit to three, gave them no chance of victory.
Antrim: C Kerr; K O'Boyle, R Johnson, C Burke; N Delargy, M Johnson, J Laverty; N McKeever, J Carron; M Fitzpatrick (0-1), T McCann (1-1, one free), M McCann (0-2); P McBride (0-1), M Sweeney (0-2), B Neeson (1-5, five frees).
Subs: C Murray (0-1) for J Carron (HT), R Murray for M Sweeney (52 mins), K Niblock for M McCann (52 mins).
Wicklow: R Lambert; C Hyland, S Kelly, E Murtagh; A Murphy, D Healy (0-1), K Murphy; R Finn (0-6, five frees, one side line), D Woods; D Hayden, G Allen (1-0), M Kenny; M O'Connor, P Cunningham (0-05, four frees), M Lennon.
Subs: R O'Brien for A Murphy (44 mins), A McLoughlin for D Woods (44 mins), S Thompson for M O'Connor (56 mins), J Crowe for E Murtagh (58 mins), P McLoughlin (58 mins), P Byrne for M Lennon (63 mins).
Referee: B Cawley (Kildare)
