Fourteen-man Louth had to dig deep to see off plucky Carlow at Darver, 3-11 to 2-10.

The win assures the winners of a quarter-final date with Longford, who got the better of Wicklow tonight.

At the end of a remarkable opening period, David Reilly's team led by four points, 3-6 to 2-5. The hosts led by ten points at one stage but their opponents netted twice inside a minute to regain a foothold in the match.

Both these teams had exited the competition at the first hurdle last year, Louth losing to neighbours Meath after a replay, while Carlow were heavily beaten by Dublin.

Tonight, the visitors drew first blood but the Wee County had quickfire points from Robert Quigley and Conor Grimes to lead by 0-2 to 0-1 inside two minutes. A fourth-minute goal from Newtown Blues attacker Robert Carr ensured that the Barrowiders would be chasing the game all night…

Senior stars Grimes and Ryan Burns (free) thumped over a couple of points before Cian Doyle slotted a lovely goal on ten minutes to leave nine points between the teams, 2-4 to 0-1.

The underdogs rallied with a couple of points but it was all to no avail as Burns bagged a third Louth major in the 16th minute to leave ten in it.

Any ideas that Carlow were at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence simply to make up the numbers were dispelled when they reeled off two goals in a minute through Graham Power and Mark Rennick to narrow the gap to just three points with six minutes left before the interval.

A Carr point steadied the hosts and Burns tagged on a free before Carlow slotted the last score of the half on the stroke of half time.

Carlow made a superb start to the second half with three consecutive points to close within one before Burns got the hosts up and running again with a pointed free six minutes after the resumption. Quigley added a point but the hosts would have to play the last quarter of the match with 14 men as Doyle was sent off in the 45th minute.

Burns (free) provided the insurance point ten minutes from time (3-9 to 2-8) and, when Carlow again pulled a point back, the Wee County replied with points from Burns and Grimes (free).

Louth - D Breen; A Smith, C Kirk, C Ward; B Faulkner, D Marks, K Faulkner; J Stewart, W Campbell; R Quigley (0-2), E Lafferty, R Carr (1-1); R Burns (1-5, 0-4f), C Doyle (1-0), C Grimes (0-3, 1f). Subs: S Kilcoyne for D Marks, C Carthy for C Ward, D Maguire for W Campbell, C Sheridan for R Carr, C Lenehan for A Smith, S McConnell for C Grimes (BC).

Carlow - C White; L Roberts, M Furey, B Cawley; G Power (1-2), D Hickey, F O'Toole (0-1); J Dwyer, K Chatten (0-1); T Kenny, C Fenlon, S Webb; D Walshe (0-1), R O'Brien (0-1), N Quinlan (0-3, 2f). Subs: M Rennick (1-1) for B Cawley, C Blake for T Kenny, C Kelly for D Hickey, L O'Sullivan for C Fenlon, MJ Doran for F O'Toole.

Referee - B Tiernan.

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