Dublin into 1B showpiece

Dublin 3-15 Carlow 0-11

Dublin booked their place in the Division 1B final with a comprehensive win over Carlow at Parnell Park.

First half goals from Kevin Byrne and Niall McMorrow set the Dubs on their way to a 2-5 to 0-7 lead for half-time.

Anthony Daly's men welcomed Stephen Hiney and Ryan O'Dwyer back from injury and they also had McMorrow, Oisin Gough and Eamon Dillon making their first league starts.

Ballyboden St. Enda's clubman McMorrow added a second goal to his tally in the 57th minute, and the hosts had little difficulty in seeing out the victory with substitute Paul Ryan in excellent form.

Carlow battled on bravely but ended the game with 14 men after John Michael Nolan earned a second yellow card with five minutes left.

Daly's charges will take on Division 1B table toppers Limerick in next weekend's divisional decider with the winners advancing to the Division 1 semi-finals and gaining promotion to the top flight for next season.

This experimental Dublin outfit should have been further in front at the break this afternoon, as they shot 13 wides in the opening 35 minutes and such wastefulness would have been punished by a better team.

Carlow were heavily reliant on young free-taker Marty Kavanagh and he landed two in the opening six minutes to give the visitors a 0-2 to 0-1 lead.

Two minutes later, David Treacy knocked the ball across the Carlow defence for Byrne to finish his goal from close range.

Kavanagh had the margin down to a single point when, with 20 minutes on the clock, McMorrow gobbled up a breaking ball 30 metres out and evaded a clutch of defenders before firing an angled shot past Carlow goalkeeper Brian Treacy and into the net.

That strike made it 2-2 to 0-4 to the Dubs and although Treacy and Liam Rushe added their names to the scoresheet before the interval, points from Kavanagh and Nolan ensured that Carlow were still in contention.

15 minutes into the second half, Dublin had extended their lead to 2-8 to 0-8 with Treacy landing a couple of frees and McMorrow pointing from play.

With Carlow's error count increasing and their attack struggling to make an impact in open play, the home side kicked on with substitute Ryan firing over three well-struck frees.

McMorrow then took his tally to 2-1 with a fine goal, soaring to claim a ball in from Rushe before showing his marker a clean pair of heels and beating Treacy with another neat finish.

Now 3-11 to 0-8 adrift, Carlow were consigned to their fifth straight league loss and the division's bottom side suffered another setback with the dismissal of Nolan.

Carlow boss John Meyler will have to rally his troops for a vital relegation play-off against fellow strugglers Antrim.