DIT power to three-point win

DIT 1-10 Carlow 1-7, Dr. Cullen Park

A quiver of quality points from the stick of Kevin O'Reilly and an opportunist 54th-minute goal from Kilkenny inter-county panelist Willie O'Dwyer powered DIT to a deserved 1-10 to 1-7 victory over Carlow in today's Kehoe Cup final.

Carlow, seeking their 21st straight victory at their home venue of Dr. Cullen Park, swept into an early 1-2 to 0-0 advantage, full-forward Seamus Murphy batting the sliotar to the net after just seven minutes.

Stylish Dubliner O'Reilly opened his side's account with a sweet point at the end of the first quarter, a portent of things to come, as though that was his only score from play, the corner forward continued to find his range from all angles and distances.

A hat-trick of O'Reilly points, coupled with further white flags from Eamon Clarke and Declan O'Dwyer saw the visitors trail just 1-4 to 0-5 at the interval before the Dublin Institute of Technology hit the front for the first time with that O'Dwyer goal.

And an "O'Dwyer" goal it most definitely was as in the lead-up to it, a long point effort by Declan O'Dwyer dropped short and was spilled by Carlow 'keeper John Miley, with the alert Willie O'Dwyer grabbing possession before netting.

1-7 to 1-5 at that juncture, Carlow, now playing into the wind, were wayward with a few scoreable frees while O'Reilly proved unerring at the other end.

Long-range points from either wing, along with a neat score from substitute Niall Kelly clinched the title for DIT who face a Fitzgibbon Cup tie against either St. Patrick's or GMIT on Wednesday week.

Former St. Kieran's star John Walsh of Laois anchored a strong DIT

defence while Donnacha Kennedy of Tipperary and the aforementioned O'Dwyers and O'Reilly were stars for the Damien McDonnell-coached college side who also beat Kildare and Meath en route to their first ever Kehoe Cup title.

Carlow's Padraig Nolan was at centre half-forward for the winners

whose starting fifteen featured players from nine counties. His brother Eoin, who hurled in last year's Ring Cup final at Croke Park and is on a hurling scholarship with DIT, was an absentee due to a hamstring injury.

Carlow were disappointing - defenders Andrew Gaul, Dessie Shaw, Shane Kavanagh and Richard Coady fared well but from midfield up, the Barrowsiders lacked a cutting edge, a concern for manager Eoin Garvey ahead of the commencement of the NHL next weekend when Carlow face an away trip to Armagh.