Louth will play Division Three football next year after losing to Donegal by 1-19 to 3-7 at Ballyshannon.

The winners, meanwhile, will almost certainly clinch promotion to Division One next weekend.

With 3,600 spectators looking on, the hosts dominated the first half to lead by 0-13 to 1-1 at the break.

Colm McFadden and Declan Walsh got the winners up and running with two early points and the Wee County replied with a Brian White free from the ground.

But Jim McGuinness' charges then took complete control of the match and struck ten unanswered points to lead by 0-12 to 0-1 after half an hour.

McFadden's free was followed by two Murphy frees and a Christy Toye effort from play. Rory Kavanagh, Dermot Molloy, Toye and Anthony Thompson tagged on points from play before Murphy and McFadden added further frees and Kavanagh grabbed his second point from play.

Shane Lennon - making his first appearance of the year - gave the travelling supporters something to cheer about with a Louth goal before the short whistle.

Toye and Lennon (free) traded points after the restart and Murphy and McFadden slotted Donegal frees before White nailed a Louth '45': 0-16 to 1-3 with a quarter of the match left.

White converted another Louth free and captain Paddy Keenan made things interesting when he notched a super second Wee County goal. And it was a three-point match with 15 minutes left after White fired a third goal for the visitors at the end of some great direct football, 0-16 to 3-4.

Walsh then steadied the hosts with a goal before Lennon blazed a Louth goal effort over the crossbar. Bevan Duffy and McFadden (free) traded points as the Tir Chonail men led by five. 'Brick' Molloy and Murphy made it a seven-point game.

Louth kept pouring forward desperately but all they could muster was a pointed Lennon free. Having failed to win any of their first six matches, the Wee County can have no complaints about taking the drop.

DONEGAL: Paul Durcan; Eamonn McGee, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey; Declan Walsh 0-1, Leo McLoone, Anthony Thompson 0-1; Rory Kavanagh 0-2, Christy Toye 0-3; Mark McHugh, Dermot Molloy 0-2, Odhran McNelis; Colm McFadden 0-6, Michael Murphy 0-4, P McBrearty. Subs: Ryan McHugh for K Lacey, David Walsh 1-0 for McBrearty, Luke Keaney for A Thompson, Gary McFadden for R Kavanagh.

LOUTH: Neil Gallagher; Padraig Rath, Dessie Finnegan, John O'Brien; Gary O'Hare, Derek Crilly, Adrian Reid; Paddy Keenan 2-0, Brian Donnelly; Paddy Reilly, Brian White 1-3, Stephen Campbell; Andy McDonnell, Shane Lennon 0-3, Eoin O'Connor. Subs: Darren O'Hanlon for D Finnegan (BC), Colm Judge for S Campbell, Bevan Duffy 0-1 for E O'Connor (BC), Declan Byrne for C Judge, Liam Shevlin for P Reilly, Darren Clarke for B Donnelly. Tweet

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