Clinical Wicklow way too good for Offaly

DUBLIN, Wicklow, Meath and Longford all secured wins in the Leinster Minor Football Championship on Saturday.

Talented Wicklow minor footballer Paul Cunningham was the architect of a 10-point win over Offaly in the Leinster opener at Aughrim (3-11 to 1-7)

The Bray football wizard taunted and tormented the Offaly defence throughout and was the target man of his colleagues for most all of Wicklow attacks.

Even when Offaly had the tonic of an early goal by corner-forward Bernard Allen to lead by 1-0 to 0-1 after three minutes, Wicklow bounced back immediately and had this game effectively wrapped up by half time when they led by 3-7 to 1-3. Ending up with an impressive total of 2-4, Cunningham rifled home his first goal after 21 minutes from a penalty, sending the Offaly keeper Shane Nally diving the wrong way with his cheeky shot to the left corner of the net, while he netted his second goal four minutes later, diving to punch to the net from Dean Siney. This was no one-man performance by Wicklow who possessed a lethal full-forward line that also included incisive corner-men in Dean Siney and Calum Rowden, while Jordan Egan had a big game at midfield, and Paul McLoughlin was probably the most impressive defender.

Jordan Egan’s brilliantly finished third goal just before half time meant there was no way back for the Faithful County.

Dublin also advanced with ease when registering a seven-points win over neighbours Kildare (0-13 to 0-6).

Leading 0-5 to 0-3 at the break the Gerry McEntee-managed outfit took control after the restart with points from James McCarthy, Gary Sweeney, Darragh Stapleton and Mark Coughlan.

Longford overcame Laois by 2-13 to 2-11 to book their place in the last eight thanks to fine displays by attacker Michael Quinn and midfielder Padraig Gill. Quinn’s penalty plus a seven points tally were vital for the winners while Gill capped off a fine display with a superb goal in the second half plus three great points.

Longford were well on their way to victory at half-time by which stage they led by 1-10 to 1-2 and while Laois staged a great second half recovery, the loss of the red-carded Stuart Mulpeter early in the second half proved a major handicap.