There were wins for Kildare, Westmeath, Offaly and Louth in four of this evening's six Leinster minor football championship Round 1 clashes.

Adam Conneely struck the only goal as Kildare saw off Wicklow’s stern challenge by 1-16 to 0-12 in Newbridge.

The visitors had made the better start with points from Eoin Doyle (2 frees) and Bradley Hickey ushering them 0-3 to 0-1 in front after five minutes.

Kildare soon found their rhythm though as Eoin Bagnal (0-6) registered a brace of frees before Aaron Browne put them into a lead that they wouldn’t surrender, with Bagnal sending over a hat-trick of placed balls that saw the Lilywhites leading by 0-8 to 0-5 at the half.

Points from Doyle, Shane Daly and Matthew Ging drew the young Garden men level early on in the restart but they failed to hit the front as Tommy Gill drove forward from corner-back to raise a sorely needed white flag for the hosts.

Conneely landed back-to-back points soon afterwards and with three minutes on the clock he’d supply the dagger goal that well and truly killed off any hope for Wicklow heading into the late stages.

In Pearse Park, goals in either half proved crucial for Westmeath as they opened their championship account with a 2-8 to 0-8 victory over Longford.

Luke Buckley’s major was what saw Joe Giles’ team lead by the minimum at the break (1-3 to 0-5) and they’d net again with four minutes to go to seal the deal in what was a tight contest throughout.

In Enniscorthy, Offaly edged Wexford by 1-10 to 1-9 with a 43rd minute Cormac Delaney penalty turning the tide in the visitors’ favour after they’d trailed by 1-4 to 0-5 at the half, with Jack O’Leary hitting the net for the home side nine minutes in.

Delaney's spot kick put them a point up heading for the final quarter and they’d race clear with scores from Delaney (2) and Jay Sheerin before the former’s final point left the Slaneysiders chasing a three-point deficit in injury-time.

Outsiders Kilkenny gave a terrific account of themselves against Louth but ultimately came up short at Nowlan Park, where it finished 3-16 to 3-8 at the end of what was a terrific hour of football.

Craig Shevlin (11), Luke Matthew (36) and Ben Collier (56) were the goalscorers for the visitors whom led by 1-11 to 2-3 at the break after Vincent O’Grady had bagged a pair of majors for the DJ Carey-managed Cats.

Kildare - C Burke; R Comeau, O O’Rourke, T Gill (0-1); M Maguire, C Boran, J Quinn; K Eustace, S Flynn; A Conneely (1-2), J Owens, C O’Brien; E Meehan (0-2, 1f), E Bagnal (0-6, 4f), A Browne (0-3). Subs: A Boyle (0-1) for J Owens, O Milmoe for C O’Brien, J O’Neill (0-1) for A Browne, L Gorman for E Meehan.

Wicklow - A Nolan; D Healy, S Kearney, J Brady; D Cooney, T Moran, C McDonald; A Daly Dunne, L Harney; J Prendergast, S Daly (0-1), B Hickey (0-1); J Kirwan, M Ging (0-5, 2f), E Doyle (0-5, 4f). Subs: E O’Neill for J Prendergast, T Shanahan for S Daly, S Coffey for S Kearney.

Referee - C Dwyer.

**

Westmeath - J Mulkerrin; D Smyth, D Fagan, A Treanor; D Seery (0-1), E Martin, J Gahan; C Gibney (0-1), F O’Hara; C Lawlor, L Buckley (1-0), D Mnguni (0-1); B McGauran (1-2, 0-1f), D Hill (0-2), D Leech. Subs: S Reid for C Lawlor, R Hanley (0-1) for L Buckley, C Daly for D Fagan.

Longford - C Skelly; S McCormack, S O’Sullivan, C Gilligan; D Kelly, D Kurkin, C O’Reilly; C Leonard (0-1), R Prior; A Farrell, K McGann (0-1), D Coady; J Duggan (0-3, 2f), T Hussey (0-3), S Ryan. Subs: K Tansey for D Coady, F Hourican for D Kelly, C Scanlon for R Prior, R Sheahan for A Farrell,  M Hynes for J Duggan, J Macken for K Tansey.

Referee - S Murphy.

**

Offaly - C Ryan; D Carty, F Dempsey, D Dempsey; J Furlong, A Strong, L Pearson; R Strong, L Egan; A Byrne, C Delaney (1-0pen), A Kelly (0-1); H Plunkett, M Tynan (0-7, 6f), D Flynn (0-1). Subs: J Sheerin (0-1) for A Strong, C White for A Byrne, M Fox for H Plunkett.

Wexford - T Kennedy; E Doyle, L Newport, P Darcy; J Murphy, J Bolger, B Cushe; L Whelan, S Kehoe; L Crowley, R O’Connor (0-2), C Regan; L Doyle, J O’Leary (1-5, 0-5f), T Kavanagh. Subs: T Malone for T Kavanagh, R Connolly (0-1) for J Murphy, J Curtis for L Crowley, J O’Sullivan (0-1) for L Doyle (BC).

Referee - D Hickey.

**

Louth - N Brady; A Grant, P Lynch, M J Hanlon; J McDonnell, M Staunton, P McKenny; C Shevlin (1-2), T Rice; K McElroy (0-1), D Leavy (0-1), P Murtagh; B Collier (1-3), L Matthews (1-7, 0-4f), T Gray (0-2). Subs: D McArdle for K McElroy, R McBride for M J Hanlon, H O’Neill for M Staunton, J Ward for C Shevlin, P Downey for P Murtagh.

Kilkenny - J Conway; C Arthurs, A Walsh, F Suffin; T Carroll, J McNamara, O Henebery; B O’Shea, S O’Dwyer; B O’Callaghan, C Walsh, T Coogan (0-2); E Crowley, R Murphy (1-4, 0-4f), V O’Grady (2-1, 1-0pen, 0-1f). Subs: O Carroll (0-1f) for B O’Shea, F Moore for F Suffin, F Blanche for T Carroll, B McDonald for V O’Grady.

Referee - S Fagan.

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