After suffering an agonising defeat by Longford in the Leinster last four tie, the Wee county were devoid of the intensity and determination which has stood them apart all through the campaign.
The much-hungrier Breffni boys led by 3-8 to 1-4 at the interval and pronounced their superiority as the fixture progressed with lethal Nathan Quigley top-scoring with 3-4.
Ryan Nwaneri got Cavan’s opening goal as they swiftly raced into a 1-3 to no-score advantage and though Jack Long got Louth off the mark on 12 minutes, Quigley’s first major made it a nine-point game after a quarter-hour.
The Reds did come back into the contest somewhat and a pair of Cillian McQuillan frees were welcome, though Shane McCabe, Oisín Maguire and Finn Crowe pointed in succession prior to Quigley shooting past Ciarán O’Hanlon once again, stretching the gap to 13.
McQuillan responded immediately with a three-pointer at the other end and while Quigley and Donnacha Skinnader exchanged white flag strikes, Cavan were comfortably in front at the halfway mark.
Louth made four substitutions at the interval and were instantly better with Tadhg Devanney and Andrew O’Reilly finding the target. The first six points of the second period were shared evenly but Quigley completed his hat-trick on 49 minutes.
By the time Devanney noted his third point of the half, Cavan were already home and hosed, Maguire completing the rout with the final score of the affair.
LOUTH: Ciarán O’Hanlon; Dan McArdle, Ciarán Devine, Fionn Coyle; Conor Clinton, Ben McKeown, Donnacha Skinnader 0-1; Tom Maguire, Micheál O’Shaughnessy; Andrew O’Reilly 0-1, Flynn Markey, Jack Long 0-1; Shane McMahon, Cillian McQuillan 1-3 (0-2f), Joe Hanlon. Subs: Luke Keenan for Long (HT), Michael McGlew for Maguire (HT), Ewan Hoban for McMahon (HT), Tadhg Devanney 0-3 (2f) for O’Shaughnessy (HT), Cian Rooney for Clinton (44).
CAVAN: Cian McConnell; Aaron Dowd, Conor Doyle, Senan Macken; Fiachra Brady, Oisín Maguire 0-3, Andrew Hill; Jamie Clarke, Thomas Gilsenan; Odhrán Madden 0-1, Ryan Nwaneri 1-1, Nathan Quigley 3-4 (0-1f, 0-1m); Seamus O’Reilly, Shane McCabe 0-1, Finn Crowe 0-3. Subs: Tadhg Shiels for Macken (37), Cian McCrystal for Hill (47), Freddie McGuigan 0-1 for Clarke (51), Charlie Fallon for Quigley (57), Paddy Putnam for Crowe (57).
REFEREE: Christopher Brady (Monaghan)
