Louth 2-26

London 1-19

William Woods shot 0-13 (0-12 from placed balls) as Louth finally halted their losing streak with a comfortable All-Ireland football qualifier victory over London in Ruislip.

Having been highly critical of his players after their disastrous Leinster SFC first round defeat to Carlow, Louth manager Pete McGrath will feel a good deal happier as his team look forward to tomorrow morning's All-Ireland qualifier second round draw. It was the Wee County's first victory since beating Kildare in the O'Byrne Cup on January 3, with their Allianz League campaign having ended in relegation from Division 2 without a single point to their name.

Louth were 0-3 to 0-0 up inside two minutes, but London levelled in the 10th minute when Ryan Elliott rounded goalkeeper Neil Gallagher before finishing to the net. The Exiles then had Louth native Martin Carroll black-carded and they were always chasing the game after Ronan Holcroft raised a green flag at the other end to put the visitors five points clear after 18 minutes.

Conor Grimes fisted home a second Louth goal late in the half to help them to a 2-12 to 1-9 interval lead. And they picked up from their left off by notching the first five points of the second half, three of which were scored by the unerring Woods.

London, who suffered a 10-point defeat to Sligo in their Connacht SFC quarter-final, rallied after that to reduce the margin to four points with top-scorer Adrian Moyles being especially prominent, but Louth stretched their advantage again and could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty by Woods, whose attempt flew over the crossbar.

Scorers - Louth: W Woods 0-13 (11f, 0-1pen), R Holcroft, C Grimes 1-1 each, D Byrne, C Downey, G McSorley 0-3 each, A McDonnell, T Durnin 0-1 each. London: A Moyles 0-10 (6f), R Elliott 1-1, F McMahon 0-3, L Gavaghan 0-2 (2f), M Gottsche (f), K Butler, L Irwin 0-1 each.

Louth: N Gallagher; D Marks, E Carolan, J Craven; D Maguire, B Duffy, A Williams; A McDonnell, T Durnin; C Downey, D Byrne, G McSorley; W Woods, C Grimes, R Holcroft. Subs: N Conlon for Holcroft (54, black card), T McEnaney for Downey (60), F Donohoe for Marks (65), E Lafferty for Williams (66), A O'Brien for McSorley (70).

London: G McEvoy; P Butler, C Dunne, C Murphy; D Carrabine, R Jones, P Begley; A McDermott, M Carroll; A Moyles, M Gottsche, T Waters; R Elliott, L Gavaghan, F McMahon. Subs: G Byrne for Carroll (16, black card), M Walsh for Jones (ht), C O'Neill for Butler (37), L Irwin for McDermott (46), E Murray for Carrabine (49, bc), K Butler for Murphy (50),

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).

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