By Cóilín Duffy

Wicklow 3-13
Carlow 0-12

All of the side-shows pertaining to this fixture mattered little, as the real focus was on referee Gerry Kinneavy at the final whistle, in this ten-point victory for Wicklow at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise.

Dara O'hAnnaidh's flight of the Earls from his new homeland of Sweden, and the expected midfield dominance of former AFL player Brendan Murphy and ex-Wicklow player Thomas Walsh; were put into the halfpenny place, as Kinneavy's dishing out of three red, and 16 yellow cards provided the main talking point.

Carlow manager Luke Dempsey remarked afterwards that this was far from a dirty encounter, and while this was a sporting encounter, Kinneavy was certainly a busy man - with both Murphy and Walsh dismissed for Carlow, while Wicklow's Nicky Mernagh was the first man to be sent to the line, after seeing red in first-half injury-time.

Mick O'Dwyer's charges had the goal-scoring prowess of Paul Earls, Leighton Glynn and substitute JP Dalton to thank, in a pulsating encounter.

Carlow dominated possession in the opening half, but were unable to make this count on the score-board, as they registered seven wides inside the opening 21 minutes.

Clincial Wicklow pushed Carlow to the sword, with centre-half-forward Tony Hannon firing two of his side's first three points, with Leighton Glynn also on target; as Wicklow held a 0-03 to 0-00 lead after seven minutes.

Carlow were left exposed defensively, while the expected midfield dominance by former AFL star, Brendan Murphy and ex-Wicklow player Thomas Walsh, failed to materialise in the opening quarter.

Luke Dempsey's side had registered four wides by the 14th minute, before Murphy landed Carlow's first point to cut the deficit to two points.

The Rathvilly clubman landed Carlow's second point in quick succession, with a Simon Rea pointed free ensuring the sides were level for the first time in the 18th minute.

Despite the sides being level at 0-4 apiece soon after, Wicklow took control with a 33rd minute Paul Earls goal putting them in the driving seat.

Earls bagged the first three-pointer, after some excellent play by Hannon and defender Patrick McWalter - before the St Patrick's clubman shook off a Carlow half-back, and slotted the ball past goalkeeper James Clarke.

This gave Wicklow a 1-06 to 0-04 advantage, but Wicklow were on the back-foot in injury-time, with the dismissal of Nicky Mernagh, and two Simon Rea points leaving a goal between the sides at the break.

There was nothing pedestrian about the second half display of either side.

McWalter bagged another Wicklow point within 40 seconds of the restart, with scores from Hannon and Glynn giving Micko's men a 1-10 to 0-7 lead, by the 45th minute.

Carlow pressed hard, with Murphy beginning to exert his authority on this game.

However, Murphy's efforts were mostly in vain with Wicklow keeper Mervyn Travers denying the former Aussie Rules player of a goal in the 58th minute.

Carlow were reduced to 14 men, following the dismissal of Murphy, after he saw red with eight and a half minutes of normal time left on the clock.

Carlow tried hard to pick up the pieces, but were dealt a huge blow with two sucker-punch goals within a six-minute spell.

Firstly, Wicklow captain Glynn was on target for a vital three-pointer, after an excellent long ball in from midfielder JP Dalton, as Glynn outpaced both Padraig Murphy and Benny Kavanagh, before slotting the ball past James Clarke.

Dalton was also involved in completing Wicklow's hat-trick, when in the 68th minute he cutely tipped the ball past Clarke, to put his side 3-11 to 0-9 in front.

Carlow rallied in the closing stages with scores from substitute Daniel St Ledger and defender Alan Curran.

But it was too late for Luke Dempsey's side to stage a recovery, as Wicklow now face Westmeath in a Leinster SFC quarter-final on June 6th.

Wicklow - M Travers; S Kelly, D O'hAnnaidh, A Byrne; P McWalter (0-1), B McGrath, D Hayden; J Stafford, D Jackman; L Glynn (1-4), T Hannon (0-6, 2f, 1 45), N Mernagh; D Odlum, S Furlong (0-2, 1f), P Earls (1-0). Subs - JP Dalton (1-0) for Jackman (21); S Canavan for McWalter (52); P Dalton for Odlum (58)

Carlow - J Clarke; P Murphy, L Murphy, B Kavanagh; A Curran (0-3), J Hayden, P McElligott; B Murphy (0-3), T Walsh; S Gannon, D Foley, M Carpenter; S Rea (0-4, 4f), J Murphy, J Kavanagh. Subs - S Redmond for L Murphy (29); JJ Smith (0-1) for Foley (34); D St Ledger (0-1) for J Murphy (44); P Cashin for Hayden (60)

Ref - G Kinneavy (Galway) Tweet

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