Louth 6-17 Fermanagh 0-11

Fermanagh's hopes of staying in Division Two of the NFL hang by a thread after their drubbing in Ardee on Saturday.

Mistakes cost the Erne men dearly as they coughed up four first-half goals against a Louth side who had their homework done on their opponents.

The threatening signs were there straight from the throw-in as full-forward Sam Mulroy started at midfield and ran on to the tap down from Tommy Durnin to drive straight at the Fermanagh defence and point.

He added a second before he claimed his first goal of the game as he capitalised on a wayward pass to win the ball out in the middle of the park before firing into an empty net from 50 yards.

With full back Dermot Campbell coming up to point it was 1-03 to no score after 11 minutes.

There was a bit of hope that Fermanagh had just started badly as they would rattle off the next four scores from a Garvan Jones free, Ultan Kelm, Declan McCusker and Shane McGullion to make it 1-03 to 0-04 after 18 minutes.

But it was only a brief respite as Louth gained control again. Comfortable sitting deep and hitting Fermanagh on the counter-attack they were helped by some poor execution by Fermanagh and Mulroy, Peter Lynch and Conor Grimes would all find the net.

Fermanagh could only respond with points from a Jones free and Sean Cassidy from play as the half ended 4-06 to 0-06.

Louth started the second half with a fine Grimes point as they made it clear they were not going to let Fermanagh back into the game and goals from the impressive Ciaran Downey and Tom Jackson added to the Fermanagh pain.

Mulroy, Grimes, Downey, Ciaran Jackman, Ryan Burns, Durnin and a massive score from corner-back Lynch added to the misery.

Fermanagh never looked like making inroads and while there were some sights of goal they were well dealt with.

Jones, Cassidy and substitutes Fionan O'Brien and Diarmuid King hit consolation points as it ended 6-17 to 0-11.

To have a chance of staying in Division Two Fermanagh need to beat Cavan on Saturday and hope Louth slip up against Kildare in their final game.

For a full report, reaction and looking ahead to the Cavan game see Thursday's paper. Or subscribe online at https://www.impartialreporter.com/subscribe/