Kildare and DCU join holders Louth in the semi-finals of the O'Byrne Cup following yesterday's games, but Meath and Dublin must meet again after extra-time failed to separate them at Parnell Park. Kieran McGeeney's Kildare overcame arch-rivals Laois by 0-11 to 0-8 at O'Moore Park, but the big talking point afterwards was the sending off of seven players on straight red cards, five of which resulted for an all-out melee five minutes before half-time. After referee Syl Doyle had restored calm, the Wexford official handed out red cards to Laois trio Billy Sheehan, Kevin Meaney and Peter O'Leary, and to Kildare's Johnny Doyle and Morgan O'Flaherty. Laois were reduced to 11 players when new full back Denis Booth 'walked' 21 minutes into the second half, and he was followed for an early shower two minutes later by Kildare sub Padraig O'Neill. Kildare, who led for most of the game, had the greater range of scorers with O'Flaherty, Dermot Earley, David Whyte and Robert Kelly all finding the target in the first half. Laois, by contrast, relied on free-taker MJ Tierney for all of their scores. DCU continued their impressive form with a double-scores victory, 0-16 to 0-8, over a very limited Offaly side at Tullamore. Despite Donie Shine's missed first half penalty, the students led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break and five points without reply in the opening 10 minutes of the second half ended the game as a contest. A frustrating day for Shine ended when he was sent off on a straight red card early in the second half. As a result, he will miss Roscommon's opening two games in the National League. Emphatic winners over Wicklow in the first round, Louth proved too strong for Athlone IT in Drogheda, winning by 0-18 to 1-8. After a closely contested opening quarter, the Wee County closed out the first half with points from Brian White and Paddy Keenan to lead by 0-9 to 0-6 at the break. Keenan added two more points on the restart to extend Louth's lead, and while the Westmeath college twice reduced the deficit to four points during the third quarter, a run of five unanswered points had put the hosts out of sight before Offaly's Brian Connors punched a late goal for the students. The game of the day was undoubtedly the meeting of old rivals Dublin and Meath at Parnell Park. The sides will meet again on Wednesday night at Pairc Tailteann following a thrilling 2-15 to 1-18 draw after extra-time. The match finished 1-11 to 0-14 after normal-time, with the Dublin goal arriving in the 50th minute after Dean Rock set up Kevin McManamon for the first of his two majors. That goal levelled matters and two minutes later, substitute Bernard Brogan put Dublin ahead for the first time. The Royals responded with three unanswered points from Graham Reilly, Stephen Bray and David Bray, only for Dublin to reply with three on the spin from Michael McAuley, Alan Hubbard and Bernard Brogan. But a Niall Mooney point five minutes into added time forced extra-time for the visitors. McManamon's second goal gave the Dubs a four-point lead at the end of the first period, but a Joe Sheridan goal in the 83rd minute brought Meath back from the dead and they regained the lead before Dublin substitute Colin Daly levelled the game for the final time. Tweet

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