Hurling wrap: Kildare leapfrog Offaly, Carlow far too strong for Down 

In Division 2B, Tyrone and Wicklow are each on four points after they condemned Sligo and London to defeats.

BATTLE AT THE SUMMIT: Kildare and Offaly are jostling for position at the top of Division 2A. Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile

Kildare leapfrogged Offaly and returned to the top of the Division 2A table on Sunday afternoon courtesy of 2-23 to 0-19 win over Derry at Owenbeg, though the home side will take a lot of encouragement from a good performance in advance of what are likely to be crucial relegation battles against Carlow and Down in the coming weeks.

Kildare did start strongly, with Brian Byrne taking a pass from James Burke to waltz through the Derry defence and hammer the ball to the net. Gerry Keegan was very threatening too, knocking over five points from play over the course of the contest, but Derry steadied after this, performing much better defensively, while Cormac O’Doherty began to knock over frees.