LUKE DEMPSEY might be experiencing the blues with the senior Carlow side, but at U21 level he’s found another winning formula.

IT might only have been the second weekend in January but Tony Hannon’s clenched fist celebrations after scoring what turned out to be the winning point in a chilly Portlaoise yesterday suggested Wicklow are well up for a repeat of their O’Byrne Cup run to the semi-finals in 2007.

There was mixed news for former Armagh team-mates Kieran McGeeney and Justin McNulty as the O'Byrne Cup got underway in Leinster today.