Earls rescues draw for Wicklow

A late point from Paul Earls earned Wicklow a 0-15 to 2-09 draw in their Allianz NFL Division 4 clash with Waterford at Aughrim today - but this was a game they could so easily have won.

Mick O'Dwyer's men, who also drew last weekend with Antrim, were well off the pace in the first half as the Deise opened up a 1-04 to 0-04 lead by half-time.

Waterford had a bye last Sunday and although Gary Hurney and his brothers John and Patrick have defected to the hurling panel, Jack Kiely still has some quality footballers at his disposal.

As evidence of this, they managed to beat both Waterford IT and Munster club champions Drom-Broadford in recent challenge matches.

They carried that form into this afternoon's league encounter and elusive forward Liam O Lionain typified the visitors' efforts.

He was the pick of the forwards on show, holding up the ball well and using his pace to trouble his marker Alan Nolan.

Brian Wall chipped in with three first-half points for the Deise and Maurice O'Gorman excelled as a target man. For Wicklow, John McGrath mustered two early points.

After playing so poorly for the first 35 minutes, Wicklow predictably raised the tempo on the restart and O'Dwyer introduced Darren Hayden and Mick McLoughlin to good effect.

Points from Tony Hannon, Dean Odlum and Leighton Glynn saw them take a 0-10 to 1-06 lead. Odlum then flicked a goal-scoring chance over the crossbar but entering the last five minutes, Wicklow were two points to the good thanks to quick-fire efforts from McGrath and Glynn.

But a rapier-like attack put the game right back in the melting pot when O Lionain dashed through and set up a goal for Cillian O'Keeffe.

Earls, who grew into the game after moving to full-forward, rallied Wicklow with the levelling point and while boths sides had further chances to find the winner, a draw was probably a fair result on the balance of play.

Elsewhere in Division 4, Sligo beat Clare by 1-13 to 2-09 at Cooraclare to record their second successive league win and keep themselves top of the table.

The Yeatsmen, who dominated midfield, did most of the damage in the first half, with Adrian Marren (1-02), Alan Costello (0-02) and Sean Davey (0-02) in form.

Clare had foraged into an early 1-03 to 0-02, despite playing into the wind. Marren's goal and a couple of Davey points inspired Sligo to life before Clare netted for the second time.

The Banner men were just 1-08 to 2-03 down at half-time after the goal. It came from a Stephen Moloney through ball, Paul Reidy watched his initial shot be saved but David Russell was on hand to fire home on the rebound.

Meanwhile, Antrim enjoyed a runaway 4-27 to 0-05 victory over Kilkenny at Nowlan Park in today's other Division 4 game. Corner forward CJ McGourty tallied up 3-05 before being called ashore in the second half.