Kildare and Laois claim U-21 wins

Kildare 4-13 Carlow 0-6

Wicklow 1-4 Laois 1-18

Kildare and Laois will meet in a Cadbury's Leinster Under-21 football championship semi-final on St. Patrick's Day thanks to comfortable wins over Carlow and Wicklow respectively this afternoon.

At St. Conleth's Park, Newbridge, last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists Kildare signalled their early intent with two goals inside two minutes from corner-forwards Conor Mellott and Niall Hurley-Lynch

The hosts led by 4-3 to 0-4 at the interval, with Hurley-Lynch (13 minutes) and captain Eoghan O'Flaherty (25) adding further goals.

They continued to impress in the second half, despite the game turning into a heated affair with straight red cards shown to Carlow duo Geordan Lowry and Daniel St. Ledger and Kildare's Robbie Confrey, which will see the three players pick up four-week bans.

Carlow scored just two second half points through James Kinsella, but the hosts finished the game storngly with O'Flaherty leading by example as Kildare gained a 19-point win.

Meanwhile, at Aughrim, visitors Laois avenged last year's defeat in the competition thanks to a 1-18 to 1-4 win over Wicklow.

The hosts began brightly and led by 1-1 to 0-1 after eight minutes thanks to an early Thomas Kelly goal.

In front of a small crowd, Laois responded strongly and held the hosts scoreless before the interval with Daragh Meredith, Ger Reddin and Colm Coss among their scorers.

The O'Moores were unlucky not to bag a first half goal when Donie Kingston broke through for a 14th minute effort and although his shot was well saved, Laois salvaged a score from the rebound with Coss splitting the posts.

Kingston proved to be a solid force in the second half and bagged 1-6 including a late goal which saw Laois open up a 12-point gap.

The visitors finished strongly with Kingston again on target to secure a place in the last-four.