Wicklow overcome Carlow to reach Leinster quarter-final
RACING CLEAR: Leinster GAA Senior Football Championship Preliminary Round, Aughrim, Wicklow 9/4/2023
Oisin McConville's Wicklow will face Kildare in the Leinster SFC quarter-finals, the Garden County securing their passage with the minimum of fuss in Aughrim on Sunday.
Fresh off promotion from Division 4 and last weekend's league final outing, the Garden County overwhelmed their neighbours with a strong second-half.
Malachy Stone's goal in first-half stoppage time put Wicklow ahead for the first time and they took off from there to kill off Carlow long before full-time.
Eoin Darcy added Wicklow's second goal late on and finished with 1-2 in front of the watching Kildare manager Glenn Ryan.
After a bright opening, Carlow quickly burnt out and manager Niall Carew looks to have a job on his hands to raise morale ahead of the Tailteann Cup next month.
Fatigue was the obvious concern for Wicklow just eight days after coming up short of Sligo at Croke Park in the Allianz League Division 4 final.
Boss McConville made a series of alterations to his starting lineup, drafting in Paul McLoughlin, Karl Furlong, Aaron Murphy and Zach Cullen with Jacques McCall, Tom Maher, Darragh Fitzgerald and Andy Maher making way.
Aside from potential heavy legs, Wicklow were also playing into the stiff crosswind initially while Carlow set up with Ciaran Moran, who wore number 11, as their sweeper in front of the full-back line.
Wicklow found the going difficult to begin with and slipped three points behind approaching the quarter-hour mark as Carlow opened up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead.
Captain Darragh Foley, on the occasion of his 150th appearance for Carlow, curled over a beauty from long range while Ross Dunphy, Colm Hulton and Jordan Morrissey split the posts for the visitors too, Morrissey's 13th minute score a real eye catcher.
It amounted to an impressive start from Carlow who struggled in Division 4 of the league and finished sixth in the table with just two wins in the campaign.
Crucially, they began that competition with a draw against Wicklow while they also defeated the Garden County by four points when the neighbours last met in the Leinster championship in 2016.
Wicklow finally upped the ante in the 10 minutes or so approaching half-time, outscoring Carlow by five points to claim a 1-5 to 0-6 lead at the interval.
It was a significant turnaround and Wicklow brought it about despite losing Cillian McDonald to a black card for a cynical trip.
Kevin Quinn and Mark Kenny kicked the points during the mini blitz late in the half while defender Stone struck the goal in first-half stoppage time when he capitalised on a defence splitting pass over the top before finishing low to the far corner from the left of the danger area.
There were only three scores registered in the entire third quarter and while the game lacked any sort of decisive spark, Wicklow weren't complaining as they stretched their lead with all three of those scores.
Quinn, Kenny and Darcy, from a free, were the players with the points for Wicklow.
Carlow, now playing into the wind, were penned back into their own half for long spells and when they did carve a couple of chances, they were out of luck with Josh Moore and Conor Doyle both hitting shots back off the woodwork.
Leading by 1-8 to 0-6 with 15 minutes to go, it was Wicklow's game to lose but there was no chance of them letting this one slip and Darcy's 69th minute goal left 10 points between the teams.
The goal summed up Carlow's afternoon as goalkeeper Ciaran Cunningham was caught up the field and Darcy ended up slamming the ball into an empty net after a neat one-two with substitute Gearoid Murphy.
E Darcy (1-2, 1 free); K Quinn (0-4, 1 free); M Stone (1-0); M Jackson (2 frees), M Kenny (0-2); P O'Toole, G Murphy (0-1).
D Foley (0-4, 3 frees); C Hulton (0-3); J Morrissey, R Dunphy, J Clarke (0-1).
M Jackson; M Stone, P McLoughlin, E Murtagh; K Furlong, P O'Keane, Z Cullen; D Healy, P O'Toole; C McDonald, JP Hurley, A Murphy; M Kenny, K Quinn, E Darcy.
C Maguire for Hurley (40-45, blood); G Murphy for A Murphy (45); T Moran for Furlong (59); F O'Shea for Cullen (63); C O'Sullivan for Quinn (68); J McCall for McDonald (69).
C Cunningham; S Buggy, M Bambrick, L Roberts; S Bambrick, M Furey, S Clarke; J Morrissey, C Doyle; J Moore, C Moran, J Clarke; R Dunphy, D Foley, C Hulton.
N Hickey for Furey (h/t); J Dunne for Roberts (53); E Molloy for Dunphy (56); D Curran for S Bambrick (71).
B Tiernan (Dublin).
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