Armagh 3-14 Louth 0-27
Armagh ended their season in defeat, with Louth securing their Nickey Rackard Cup status with a four-point win.
Midfielder Darren Geoghegan was the star performer and contributed 0-17 of Louth’s final tally.
But Saturday afternoon belonged to Eoin McGuinness, who played in his final ever game in the orange and white.
McGuinness had the honour of captaining the team and hung up the boots after a phenomenal service of ten years.
Armagh started and finished the game stronger but in between times it was Louth who were on top.
Fionntan Donnelly rattled the net with the first score of the game and Armagh stormed into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead after ten minutes.
Louth hit three on the bounce to narrow the deficit, but a Donnelly free put Armagh four up, 1-5 to 0-4, after 20 minutes.
But Louth soon took control of the contest, registering ten of the next eleven points to go in front for the first time.
Geoghegan kickstarted their revival while his midfield partner Ryan Walsh, Conor Murphy and Conall Shaw also added scores. That saw the Wee County ahead 0-14 to 1-7 at half time.
The break did little to halt Louth’s scoring spree as Geoghegan (2) and Walsh raised white flags, with Donnelly offering Armagh’s only response.
Donnelly and Cormac Jennings traded points with Louth’s free-scoring midfielders before Tomas Galvin slammed home a superb goal.
Paul McCormack’s travelling side cancelled out the Armagh three-pointer instantly with four points on the trot.
Galvin exchanged efforts with Feidhleim Joyce before firing to the top corner for a second time to narrow the gap to four.
Geoghegan and Galvin swapped scores in the final few minutes as Louth proved worthy winners on the day.
