Neighbours Carlow and Wexford will meet in the O'Byrne Cup Shield final following their respective semi-final wins over DIT and Westmeath yesterday.

Eire Og clubman Simon Rea hit 3-3 as Luke Dempsey's Carlow got the better of DIT at Dr Cullen Park. The centre forward scored his first goal after just five minutes, and added a second when his 24th minute free took a deflection off a DIT defender and ended up in the net.

DIT, who were knocked out of the Sigerson Cup in midweek, were largely disappointing and their fate was sealed when Rea completed his hat-trick from a second half penalty after substitute Alan Kelly was brought down.

In Gorey, Wexford produced a strong finish to down Brendan Hackett's experimental Westmeath side by 1-10 to 0-8. Star of the show was impressive newcomer Ben Brosnan, who top-scored with 1-6 for the Slaneysiders.

Brosnan scored five points in the first half to help Jason Ryan's side to a 0-8 to 0-3 interval lead. Westmeath introduced Denis Glennon at half-time and he marked his arrival with three quick points which brought the visitors to within two points, 0-8 to 0-10, with 19 minutes to go.

But Wexford steadied the ship and after an Aindreas Doyle point pushed their lead out to three, Brosnan netted in stoppage-time to settle the issue. Tweet

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