OLD CONN TRICK IS HARD ON WEE MEN

CONNAIRE Harrison struck 1-2 late on as Down held off a brave Louth fightback to get their Division Two campaign off to a winning start in Drogheda yesterday.

Leading by 0-7 to 0-4 at the break, the Mourne men surged six points ahead within 17 minutes of the restart after hitting four unanswered points.

The Wee County, after 21 minutes without a score, replied with four points of their own to cut the deficit to two with seven minutes remaining.

However, Pete Mcgrath’s hopes of starting his Louth tenure with a win over his native county were ended by two points inside a minute from Harrison.

And to rub salt in the wounds he then hit the net two minutes from the end to secure the win.

Down boss Eamon Burns praised the full forward’s impact.

He said: “He rattled in 1-2 in the space of about four or five minutes which effectively won us the game.

“We took scores at very important times. Louth came back into the game to bring it back to two but we managed to get the ball up the field and got a very important score.

“Then we tagged another one on and got a goal shortly after which probably finished the game as a contest.”

Louth boss Mcgrath said there were lessons to be learned from the defeat.

“Both management and players will have learned a lot from the day and there’s a lot to be encouraged and enthused about,” he said.