A general view of Páirc Tailteann. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Leinster MFC Quarter-Finals
Louth 3-16 Westmeath 3-12
Offaly 4-11 Meath 2-14
By Paul Keane
A great week for Louth football has just got a little bit better with the Wee County's qualification for the last four of the Electric Ireland Leinster MFC.
Fresh off the county's historic Leinster U-20 success last night, and with news breaking earlier in the week of official approval for a new county stadium in Dundalk, the minors have now done their part.
Captain Andrew O'Reilly's early goal and 1-3 haul helped the hosts to overcome Westmeath in Hunterstown.
Jack Martin and Cian Rooney supplied first-half goals for Louth too though they had to battle all the way for the eventual four-point win.
Westmeath, trailing by 10 after back-to-back Connell Kelly points for Louth with only a minute of normal time remaining, somehow conjured two last gasp goals.
It gave Louth supporters some nervous moments in the dying moments but the Group 1 runners-up held firm to advance.
Aside from the three goals, an O'Reilly two-pointer and another from Cillian McQuillan in the second-half proved significant.
Tadhg Devaney from the Glyde Rangers club was influential too for Louth, striking two points while Martin and Rooney registered 2-3 between them.
Louth have a crack management team that includes former senior star James Califf, ex-senior coach Gavin Devlin and former Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty.
They will be joined by this evening's other quarter-final winners, Offaly, in the last four while Dublin and Kildare had already advanced as group winners.
Offaly finished third in Group 1 and had it all to do against Meath in Navan but produced a late flurry of scores to seal a thrilling win.
Paddy Burns' 60th minute goal hauled Offaly from two points down to a point up and Jack Ryan added a two-pointer in stoppage time to somehow turn what looked like a certain loss into a three-point win.
Offaly's Ruairi Woods and Stephen Cahill from the Dunsany club in Meath had traded goals initially while Charlie Duffy added a second Offaly goal to leave the visitors 2-5 to 1-5 up at half-time.
Woods cracked over a two-pointer midway through the second-half for Offaly before Duffy nabbed his second goal, and the team's third, to leave The Faithful 3-8 to 1-8 ahead.
Meath refused to relent and pinched a goal along with a series of points, as well as a two-pointer, to move 2-14 to 3-9 up approaching the hour mark.
That's when Burns intervened with Offaly's fourth and decisive goal, palming in at the back post after great build up work from Dylan Dunne and Cian McNamee.
The two semi-finals are scheduled to take place on May 7.
