Ja Fallon and Derek Savage combined to set up Michael Meehan for the game's only goal, which spurred Galway into a 1-6 to 0-4 interval lead.

However, the Tribesmen had midfielder Barry Cullinane dismissed for his second bookable offence on 41 minutes and they had to survive a Louth fight-back.

Louth hit successive points from Shane Lennon, Darren Clarke (0-2) and John O'Brien, but Galway kept ahead thanks to the scoring power of Padraig Joyce (0-5) and Nicky Joyce (0-4).

Peter Ford's side confidently picked up their fourth straight win - adding to their recent successes over Armagh, Kildare and Westmeath - to give themselves a shot at making the league's knock-out stages.

With Kildare and Laois in their sights in third place in the table, Galway only have next weekend's clash against struggling Down to come.

They did, however, get off to a sluggish start in Dundalk today as Louth took in the quarter-hour mark with a 0-3 to 0-1 advantage. Darren Clarke had hit two frees, his second from 40 metres out, and JP Rooney had also added a point from play for the hosts.

A 20-metre free from Padraig Joyce in the fourth-minute had opened Galway's account, and Ford's charges managed to get back on terms at 0-4 apiece, with ten minutes remaining in the opening half.

With Declan Meehan impressive at centre-back and Cullinane and Joe Bergin digging in at midfield, Galway soon began to look the part and levelled the game with two Cormac Bane points and another Joyce free.

A Nicky Joyce pass set Fallon free for a neat score and another placed ball from Padraig Joyce had the Tribesmen 0-6 to 0-4 ahead. Meehan's goal soon followed to hand them a five-point buffer for the second half.

Nicky Joyce tagged on Galway's seventh point before Aaron Hoey managed to reinvigorate Louth by ending a 17-minute spell without a score for the home side.

Cullinane then saw red for a poor tackle on Paddy Keenan and another Hoey point cut the gap back to 1-7 to 0-6.

Keenan stroked over a point, Bane and Joyce then replied for Galway before Louth scored three points from play in the space of as many minutes - Lennon, Clarke, who turned brilliantly to score, and O'Brien all raised white flags between the 53rd and 55th minutes.

After Derek Savage had blasted a shot off the Louth cross bar, Clarke added another point. But any hopes Louth had of a comeback win were extinguished when Savage and the Joyce cousins, Padraig and Nicky, all scored in the closing minutes.