Oldest hands steady Dublin

It took a grinding effort for Dublin to claim the O'Byrne Cup in Parnell Park yesterday as Louth sustained a viable challenge for long periods but couldn't quite carry it through to the finish.

Even if this reward is regarded as nothing more than a trophy for the cabinet, Dublin have used the competition as a major element in identifying players for the months ahead and manager Tom Carr again called on an experimental line-up. This incident-packed encounter, however, may not exactly have been what he was looking for.

At one stage it seemed that it was all going distinctly wrong and it the end it took the accomplished play of the experienced Ciaran Whelan, Dessie Farrell and Declan Darcy to see Dublin home. They weren't helped, either, by Keith Galvin's sending-off and a scoring drought by the forwards in the early part of the second half.

Louth went into the game in worrying form with two recent league defeats; yet on many occasions proved the more constructive and imaginative, especially when it came to scoring. Sean O'Neill proved highly useful with the only goal from play while Alan Doherty's accuracy at corner forward was also a major asset. Dublin at one stage fell into a two-point deficit and it took a nervous penalty by Darcy to regain the winning mood.

Dublin's problems peaked midway through the second half as scores from Stefan White, Colin Fitzpatrick and Doherty forced Dublin to apply whatever experience they had to the match. Farrell was brought down by Stephen Melia on 40 minutes which set up Darcy's score from the spot and only then did Senan O'Connell and Niall O'Donoghue start to make a contribution.

The first half was an evenly-matched affair despite Dublin bolting to an almost immediate four-point lead through Mick O'Keeffe and Darcy. Doherty was also showing his early range and then on 10 minutes O'Neill brought the sides level after taking a high ball from Doherty and sending it low into the Dublin net.

A few more exchanges of frees left it an even, 0-8 to 1-5, at halftime before Louth slowly gained the momentum. Galvin was shown the red card on 37 minutes for his high tackle on John Donaldson and a much-improved Louth midfield had Dublin appearing slightly lost. Darcy then switched to left half back, where he made a much greater impression, and his penalty, closely followed by O'Donoghue's and O'Connell's well-taken points brought them to a comfortable four-point lead.

From then on there was little threat to their lead and indeed Louth's scoring ended with a Seamus O'Hanlon point almost 10 minutes from time.

Dublin: K Gorman; P Moran, P Christie, T Lynch; M Casey, I Robertson, K Galvin; C Whelan (0-2), E Sheehy; B Irwin (0-2), D Darcy (1-4, three frees, pen), E Creenan (0- 1); N O'Donoghue (0-2), S Connell (0-1), M O'Keefe (0-4, 2 frees). Subs: P Curran for Lynch (30 mins); D Farrell for Crennan (40 mins).

Louth: N O'Donnell; B Philips, S Melia, C Fitzpatrick (0-1); J Clerkin, J Donaldson, P McGinnity; S O'Hanlon (0-1), K Reilly; N Malone, S O'Neill (1-0), A O'Neill; S White (0-2), O McDonnell, A Doherty (0-5, all frees). Subs: A Rooney (0-1) for P McGinnity (46 mins); C O'Hanlon for S O'Neill (55 mins); N Sharkey for Reilly (62 mins).

Referee: C Buckley (Offaly), replaced by M Monaghan (Louth).