Wexford 2-13
Louth 1-15

PJ Banville's 50th minute goal proved crucial as Wexford held off a late rally from Louth at Drogheda to book their place in the last four of the Leinster SFC.

Banville's green flag gave his team a seven point cushion with 20 minutes left on the clock but a spirited fight-back from the Wee County ensured the contest went right down to the wire.

The late comeback will be of little consolation to Louth manager Aidan O'Rourke and his team who entered the contest in confident mood having disposed of Laois by 10 points in the opening round a fortnight ago.

The Model County visibly tired in the closing stages but they withstood the late surge of Louth.

The home side's woes were compounded when John O'Brien was sent to the line in added-on time.

Following Banville's goal, the team in red and white posted four points without reply and trailed by just three points by the 57th minute.

Paddy Byrne stemmed the tide for the men from the south east but Shane Lennon and Andy McDonnell replied for the hosts to set up a grandstand finish.

Wexford were on the ropes and Brian White then made it a one-point game entering injury-time.

Brosnan calmed Wexford nerves with a point from a free that turned out to be the insurance score.

Centre-forward White, once again, left the bare minimum between the sides but time ran out for Louth and Wexford held on for a memorable victory.

Wexford led by 1-10 to 1-5 at the end of an absorbing opening 35 minutes thanks to 1-3 from the highly impressive Ciaran Lyng

Brosnan opened the scoring from a free in the 2nd minute and Adrian Flynn added a second to put Wexford in pole position.

Louth supporters were celebrating, however, in the 6th minute when Lennon found the back of the Wexford net.

There was little separating the sides in the early exchanges and Lyng edged the Model County in front - 0-8 to 1-4 - before putting some daylight between the sides with his goal in the 28th minute.

White and Brosnan (free) exchanged points before Lyng brought his personal tally to 1-3 to give Aidan O'Brien's side a five point lead at the halfway stage.

O'Brien and his players now look forward to a semi-final clash against the winners of Meath and Wicklow while it's the qualifiers for the Wee County.

Wexford - A Masterson; M Furlong, G Molloy, L Chin; B Malone, D Murphy, A Flynn (0-1); D Waters, R Quinlivan; J Holmes (0-1), C Lyng (1-3, 1f), A Doyle (0-1); R Barry (0-1), B Brosnan (0-5, 4f, '45), PJ Banville (1-0). Subs: S Roche for Barry, P Byrne (0-1) for Doyle, C Carty for Holmes, R Tierney for Chin, K Gore for Waters.

Louth - N Gallagher; P Rath, D Finnegan, J Bingham; D Crilly, S O'Brien, A Reid; P Keenan (0-2), B Donnelly; A McDonnell (0-1), B White (0-6, 3f), C Rafferty; C Byrne, S Lennon (1-5, 3f), D Maguire (0-1). Subs: C Judge for Byrne, P Smith for Donnelly, R Carroll for Rafferty, J McEneaney for Judge.

Referee - F Kelly. Tweet

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