Dublin eased to a 0-25 to 3-11 victory over 13-man Kilkenny at Nowlan Park this afternoon.

The final scoreline doesn't reflect the complete dominance of the winners, who led by 14 points at the three-quarters stage. The hosts produced a late rally that was realistically never going to yield anything more than some respectability.

Kilkenny pair Jonjo Farrell and Joe Lyng both picked up straight red cards, while Dublin finished the game with 14 men after Danny Sutcliffe received his second yellow in the final seconds of normal time.

The win sees Dublin move to the top of Division 1A as the only team with a perfect record after two rounds of games, having seen off both Tipperary and now Kilkenny in an impressive opening to their campaign.

Thanks largely to an incredible nine-point haul from David Treacy, the winners led by seven at half time, 0-15 to 1-5. Matthew Ruth had given the outclassed Cats a glimmer of hope when he found the net in the 16th minute but the Noresiders' hopes went up in smoke seven minutes later when Farrell received the softest of red cards.

Danny Sutcliffe's point on the stroke of five minutes fired the Dubs into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead and Treacy shortened his grip to slot over another point for the determined visitors 45 seconds later. Treacy then followed up with a brace of points from placed balls as the Metropolitans led by 0-6 to 0-1 after eight minutes.

Jonjo Farrell hit the Cats' opening point, either side of scores from Peter Kelly and Sutcliffe. An almighty eleventh-minute scramble in the Dublin goalmouth came to nought but Ger Cunningham's charges went straight down to the other end, where Kelly bagged his second point.

Richie Hogan's free just about kept the holders in touch and, in the 16th minute, Ruth had the gap down to two points: the Kilkenny No.12 cut in along the right end-line and poked the sliothar past the advancing Alan Nolan before rolling it over the line from a couple of inches to register the first goal of the game.

Dublin could have replied immediately with a goal of their own but Simon Lambert was happy enough to take his point, which was cancelled out by a sublime Hogan over: 0-8 to 1-3 as we went into the second quarter. Padraig Walsh swivelled to reduce the arrears to the minimum after some uncertain refereeing resulted in a doubious throw-up of the ball. Twelve minutes from the break, Brian Cody's charges suffered a major blow when full forward Farrell was shown a very harsh straight red card.

That decision seemed to galvanise the visitors and they redoubled their efforts to clip over a run of three points from Eamonn Dillon and Treacy (2) before Walter Walsh and Treacy - with his third '65' - traded scores. Four points separated the sides with six minutes left in the first half.

After wides at either end, Treacy thumped over a massive free from over 80 metres and the unerring No.13 brought his tally for the day to 0-8 when he followed up with a routine free from close to goal a minute from the short whistle. Fittingly, it was Treacy who added the final point of the half in injury time to give his side a seven-point interval advantage.

The Dubs picked up where they'd left off when Mark Schutte slotted a score 90 seconds after the restart and Sutcliffe followed up with a superb solo score before Mark Kelly opened the Black & Amber's second-half account. Dillon pierced the Cats defence and drilled a shot a couple of feet over the bar and Liam Rushe's strength created the opening for Treacy to leave ten between them after 41 minutes, 0-19 to 1-6.

A foul on Rushe culminated in another pointed Treacy free in the tenth minute of the second half; Sutcliffe, Dillon and Schutte continued the onslaught with points on the run as the gap went out to 14 points after 50 minutes.

Kilkenny's second score of the second half arrived in the 53rd minute when Hogan stroked over the softest of frees; within seconds, Dublin replied via Shane Durkin. Hogan (free) again closed the gap to 13 but the hosts were reduced to 13 men 15 minutes from the end when substitute Joe Lyng was shown a straight red card for a dangerous pull on Cian Boland.

Hogan popped over a '65' and somehow managed to find the net when slamming a 21-metre free through a forest of Dublin defenders as the 13 men - or one of them at least! - closed within nine. Rushe picked out Schutte for the 25th Dublin point on the hour and Hogan replied with a point from a close-range free.

When Ruth claimed his second goal with a groundstroke from an acute angle four minutes from the end, a buzz went around Nowlan Park as there were suddenly just six points between the teams. Nolan deflected over a goalbound Hogan free 90 seconds from the end of normal time and some of Dublin's cynical fouling in the closing stages left a lot to be desired.

Sutcliffe picked up a second yellow card in the 70th minute and the winners survived another scramble beneath their crossbar as they moved out on their own at the top of Division 1A.

Dublin - A Nolan; C O'Callaghan, M Carton, P Schutte; C Crummey, P Kelly (0-2), C Keaney; S Durkin (0-1), S Lambert (0-1); C Cronin, E Dillon (0-3), D Sutcliffe (0-4); D Treacy (0-11, 4f, 3'65), L Rushe, M Schutte (0-3). Subs: C Boland for C Cronin, P Ryan for D Treacy.

Kilkenny - E Murphy; T Keogh, P Murphy, J Tyrrell; B Kennedy, K Joyce, C Buckley; G Brennan, L Ryan; P Walsh (0-1), W Walsh (0-1), M Ruth (2-0); M Kelly (0-1), J Farrell (0-1), R Hogan (1-7, 1-5f, 0-1'65). Subs: J Power for G Brennan, J Lyng for B Kennedy.

Referee - C Lyons.

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