Wicklow 5-15
Laois 4-12
WICKLOW EARNED THEIR first championship victory over Laois in 36 years to set up a Leinster quarter-final with Meath.
Kevin Quinn’s hat-trick aided The Garden County to come out on top of a nine-goal thriller, adding insult to injury for Laois who were already this season relegated to Division 4 of the league.
Alan Costello and Gary Duffy’s men were beaten by Laois in that same league campaign but a blistering first half with the wind at their backs saw Wicklow blitz Billy Sheehan’s side for a 3-11 to 2-3 lead.
First-half goals by Eoin Darcy, Padraig O’Toole and a first for Quinn helped Wicklow into an almost unassailable advantage, with three-pointers by Gary Walsh and Sean O’Flynn managing to keep the game alive only barely.
Wicklow, playing into the wind for the second half, stretched that sizeable lead within minutes as Quinn powered home his second, and the Blessington man rounded off his hat-trick shortly afterwards.
A Paddy O’Sullivan strike, in off the underside of the crossbar, reduced the difference to 13 on 47 minutes, and Gary Walsh netted Laois’ fourth with seconds remaining in normal time to make the score 5-15 to 4-9.
Walsh was soon afterwards shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident while Wicklow’s Patrick O’Keane joined him moments later after receiving a second yellow.
By the end, Laois had clawed it back to a six-pointer but it was Wicklow who had long since secured a famous victory and a clash with The Royals next Sunday.
Louth 5-10
Carlow 0-10
Mickey Harte’s Louth outgunned Carlow as the Division 3 champions consigned their opponents to the Tailteann Cup with a 15-point victory.
Sam Mulroy starred with 2-5 as Louth cruised into the Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-finals, with further goals from Conor Grimes, Tommy Durnin and Ciaran Byrne ensuring Louth will meet Kildare next weekend.
Harte’s men have earned back-to-back promotions in the league and, given they will share a division with Kildare next year, they will fancy their chances of an upset next time out.
Carlow won just one of their seven Division 1 fixtures and Niall Carew’s Barrowsiders were always going to be up against it on Sunday, but the game was effectively over as a contest in 20 minutes.
Louth, aided by a strong first-half breeze, led by seven at the turnaround, 2-06 to 0-5, with goals by Grimes and Byrne.
Durnin’s superb finish on 50 minutes put 10 between the sides and Mulroy, who notched 3-51 during Louth’s league campaign, added two more — his second from the penalty spot — as the Wee County made a big statement in their Leinster opener.
