John Murphy's goal was decisive as Carlow defeated Longford by 1-10 to 0-10 at Dr Cullen Park.

The left half forward pounced 14 minutes after the break to provide the score that handed both points to Luke Dempsey's charges.

The sides shared eight points in the first half and there was nothing between them all afternoon - apart from Murphy's major.

He rose above two Longford backs on 49 minutes to expertly punch midfielder Brendan Murphy's centre to the net.

JJ Smith landed five points for the winners, all from frees, while Glenn Ryan's men were best served in the scoring department by Francis McGee, who also converted five frees.

Carlow - J Clarke; M Nolan, L Murphy, K Nolan; A Curran, J Hayden, T Bolger; Brendan Murphy (0-1) , K Doyle; S Gannon (0-1), S Rea (0-1, 1f), J Murphy (1-0); JJ Smith (0-5, 5f), M Carpenter (0-2) , D St Ledger. Subs: Brian Murphy for Doyle (23); E McCormack for J Murphy (66).

Longford - D Sheridan; S Mulligan, D Masterson (0-1), S Hannon; D Brady, E Williams, J Nally; K Smyth, B McElvaney; D Kennan (0-1), F McGee (0-5, 5f) , K Mulligan; C Mimnagh, B Kavanagh (0-1), J Martin (0-2, 2f). Sub: D Reilly for Martin (52).

Ref: B Tyrell (Tipperary). Tweet

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