St Mary's, Ardee ended their long wait of 27 years to secure the Louth senior football championship title by seeing off Newtown Blues 1-18 to 1-15 in today's replayed final at Dowdallshill.
The winners were given a dream start when Ciarán Keenan found the net in the opening minute but the Blues gradually got on top in the run up to half-time with points from Rob Carr, Daire Nally ('45) and Ciaran Downey giving them a slender interval advantage, 1-5 to 0-9.
St Mary's, beaten finalists in 2016 and 2020, rattled off four unanswered points through Ciaran Gillespie (free), Tom Jackson, Shane Matthews and Daire McConnon within the first five minutes of the resumption to take control of this Joe Ward Cup decider.
That lead was out to six points heading down the home straight before an Emmet Carolan goal which came from a rebound of a penalty in the seventh minute of injury-time left two between the sides but the Ardee men held their nerve.
Ardee St Mary’s are the 2022 Anchor Tours SENIOR CHAMPIONS ⚪️🔵
— Louth GAA (@louthgaa) October 16, 2022
Congratulations to Tom Jackson todays Man of the Match after a super performance
James Mc Gillick and Jamie Rooney alongside Captain RJ Callaghan lifted the Joe Ward and is taking it back to ARDEE after 27 years 🏆 pic.twitter.com/4eE5V6p9B2
Tweet