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Lennon hat-trickinspires Louth

Tommy Murphy Cup Quarter-final/Louth 3-12 Monaghan 1-10: Shane Lennon inspired Louth to a comfortable Tommy Murphy Cup victory…

Sat Aug 05 2006 - 01:00

Tommy Murphy Cup Quarter-final/Louth 3-12 Monaghan 1-10: Shane Lennon inspired Louth to a comfortable Tommy Murphy Cup victory over a depleted Monaghan side in Dundalk last night.

Séamus McEnaney could only field two regulars in Paul Finlay and Stephen Gollogly and, although they started brightly, tha lack of experience told as Louth cruised to a semi-final clash against Antrim.

Louth manager Eamonn McEneaney also fielded a weakened side, but was able to call upon eight of his championship side, including Lennon, who scored a whopping 3-5 before being substituted 10 minutes from time.

Monaghan led 1-5 to 0-2 after 14 minutes when Ciarán Hanaratty kept his cool to slot past Stuart Reynolds in the Louth goal. But Louth hit back with 2-4 with no reply to take a lead they never relinquished.

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Lennon's first goal arrived after 16 minutes when he turned Keith Sheerin and shot low to net past Pádraig McBennett. His second was an even better finish eight minutes before the break.

Having led 2-7 to 1-6 at the break the UCD student struck his third within three minutes of the restart to virtually end the game as a meaningful contest.

Monaghan rallied briefly to close to four points but Louth closed the game out with four points in as many minutes.Lennon departed to a standing ovation on 62 minutes as Louth cruised to the finish.

LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Brennan, M Fanning, D Finnegan; J O'Brien, P McGinnity, R Finnegan (0-1); M Farrelly, P Keenan (0-1); JJ Quigley, Ronan Carroll (0-1), T O'Brien (0-1); JP Rooney (0-2), S Lennon (3-5, four frees), C Judge (0-1). Subs: H McGinn for Quigley (19 mins), D Reid (0-1) for Judge (48 mins), C Kearney for McGinn (48 mins), S O'Neill for Lennon (62 mins), J Doyle for J O'Brien (67 mins).

MONAGHAN: P McBennett; K Sheerin (0-1), E Lennon; M McNally, K Hughes, D Hughes; B McKenna, P Finlay (0-5, frees); P Meegan (0-1), S Gollogly, O Duffy (0-1); C Hanratty (1-1), S Downey, A Ward (0-1). Subs: R Woods for K Hughes (42 mins), T Freeman (0-3, 2 frees) for Meegan (42 mins), P Meegan for Duffy (62 mins).

Referee: P Carney (Roscommon).