Louth upset the odds to defeat the Orchard County

Louth 2-20 Armagh 2-19

Louth shocked Armagh at Inniskeen with a late goal from Sam Mulroy securing a famous win for the Wee County. The 2025 Leinster Championship winners go straight to the All-Ireland quarter-finals while Armagh are in the Round Three draw tomorrow.

Mulroy was fairly quite throughout the second half, with Joe McElroy shadowing him, but he claimed the last two scores of the day. He converted a free to make it a two-point game before stealing the show with the last minute winner.

Armagh unusually coughed up possession on a couple of occasions in the last few minutes, which gave Gavin Devlin’s charges a real fighting chance to get something from the game.

Louth actually carried a two-point advantage into the half time break despite conceding a Gareth Murphy goal after just two minutes of play.

An Ethan Rafferty two-point tied things up towards the end of the first half, but the impressive pair of James Maguire and Craig Lennon pointed to see them lead 0-14 to 1-9 at the break.

Lennon made it a three-point game at the start of the second half before Oisin Conaty latched onto a loose kickout and punished the opposition by kicking home a first ever championship goal.

Louth replied through a goal from man of the match Dara McDonnell but Ross McQuillan pointed to level matters. Both sides split the posts, but scores from Jarly Og Burns and Jason Duffy had Armagh three up late on before Mulroy performed his memorable heroics.

Louth: Niall Mc Donnell, Emmet Carolan, Donal Mc Kenny, Daire Nally, Conal McKeever, Dara McDonnell 1-3, Craig Lennon 0-3, James Maguire 0-3, Sean Callaghan, Paul Matthews, Sam Mulroy 1-4 (1f, 1tpf), Conor Grimes 0-1, Kieran McArdle, Ciaran Downey 0-4, Ryan Burns 0-1. Subs: Ciaran Byrne for C. Grimes, Tommy Durnin for P Matthews, Tadgh Mc Donnell for C. McKeever, Conor Early 0-1 for S. Callaghan, Conall Mc Caul for R. Burns.

Armagh: Ethan Rafferty 0-2 (1tpf), Peter McGrane, Aaron McKay, Gareth Murphy 1-0, Greg McCabe, Tiernan Kelly, Jarly Óg Burns 0-3, Ross McQuillan 0-4, Joe McElroy, Cian McConville 0-3 (1f), Darragh McMullan 0-1, Tomás McCormack 0-1, Conor Turbitt 0-1, Jason Duffy 0-2, Oisin Conaty 1-1. Subs: Oisin O’Neill for G. McCabe, Greg McCabe for T. Kelly, Daniel Magee for T. McCormack, Rory Grugan for R. McQuillan, Aidan Forker for C. McConville.