Louth find extra gear to overcome gallant Offaly in Leinster SFC semi-final

Louth are back in the Leinster SFC final for the first time since 2010 after they overcame Louth by three points after extra-time at Croke Park.

For the second week in succession, they had to dig deep to overcome midlands opposition – however while their quarter-final win over Westmeath saw them retrieve an eight-point deficit, this time they had the game in the palm of their hands, lost it when Offaly rallied in the last ten minutes of normal time, before dominating extra-time, outscoring Offaly by 0-10 to 1-01 in the additional 20 minutes.

Perhaps it was the superior conditioning that they've developed under the guidance of the All-Ireland winning combination of Gavin Devlin and Mickey Harte on their coaching ticket, or perhaps it was the big-match experience and know-how that they developed over an impressive Division Two campaign in the Allianz League, but there was no doubt that from the middle of the second half, Louth looked like the fitter, stronger team.

However they faltered in front of the finish line, and Offaly will rue a couple of big misses in second half stoppage time that could have sent them back to Croke Park in a fortnight’s time.

Had that happened, it would have been against the head, to a considerable degree. There was little between the sides in the first half in general play, but Louth still looked sharper in the opening 35, even though it ended level.

Ciarán Downey was the star man for the Wee County, racking up five of his seven points in that period, while Dylan McKeown also picked off two excellent scores for the men in red.

Offaly relied on their defensive strength to win turnovers, and also needed a wonderful goal from Peter Cunningham, assisted by Anton Sullivan, to get to the interval level at