Two counties with their championship season on the line but only one that seemed in any way interested in extending their campaign as Longford cruised to victory over an insipid Carlow side

Carlow booked their place in tomorrow’s qualifier draw after edging a dour defensive battle with London at Ruislip.

John Murphy is laughing. He knows how physically big this Carlow side can be considered but then he knows they could be bigger if Sean O’Brien had taken a different playing career path.

A Championship opener at Dr Cullen Park may not have been one for the purists to salivate over, but the intrigue was constant and the reward for Carlow far greater than the immediacy of a Leinster quarter-final date with Dublin. That may be daunting, but it can wait, writes John Divilly.