Louth dominated this game at Casement Park yesterday and should have won by a much bigger margin. They opened with a flurry of six unanswered points in the first 18 minutes and even at that stage should have been a few goals up.

Long balls pumped into the Antrim defence caught them off balance regularly with Louth full forward Mark Stanfield and Co slicing through for scores. Stanfield and Nicky McDonnell saw two rockets of theirs skim over the bar when goals looked imminent.

Kevin Madden pointed an Antrim free-kick in the 23rd minute and from there to the break the home side matched Louth, scoring four points to one in reply from the visitors who led at the interval by 0-7 to 0-4.

The gap was closed to one point when Madden pointed another free in the 41st minute, but points by Stanfield (free), Ollie McDonnell and the outstanding Paddy Keenan killed off any home comeback.

Keenan, Stanfield and Nicky McDonnell grabbed three more points with only one reply by Madden before the clinching score arrived.

From a kickout, following McDonnell's score, the usually reliable Sean McGreevey sent the ball straight to Stanfield who accepted it gratefully and planted it into the net to give his team a 1-13 to 0-7 lead after 62 minutes.

A late point by Peter McCann was all that Antrim could offer before the end.

ANTRIM: S McGreevey; C Anderson, J McKeever, N Ward; S Kelly, K McGourty, A Finnegan; M McCrory, M McCarry; P McCann (0-1), K Brady, SP O'Hagan; C Kelly (0-2); D O'Hare, K Madden (0-5, 4f). Subs: T O'Neill for O'Hagan (50 mins), G Adams for Finnegan (50 mins), C McCann for O'Hare 54 mins), C Tumelty for Kelly (63 mins).

LOUTH: S Reynolds; A Page, A Hoey, D Brennan; J Clerkin, C Goss, B Clarke; M Farrelly (0-1), K Reilly (0-1); S O'Hanlon, O McDonnell (0-1), N McDonnell (0-3); P Keenan (0-3), M Stanfield (1-4, 2f), JP Rooney. Subs: D Reilly for Clarke (61 mins), M Brennan for Keenan (68 mins), C O'Hanlon for Stanfield (69 mins), D Shevlin for Clerkin (71 mins).

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).