Leinster MFC: Kelly guides Louth past Laois, Kildare maintain fast start

Kildare's Jack Reilly celebrates with Aidan Tobin after the game. Pic: Grace Halton

Connell Kelly, last year's minor football championship top scorer, displayed his quality again as provincial holders Louth made it back-to-back wins in Leinster.

Chasing top spot in Group 1 to nail down a semi-final spot, Louth turned in a strong second-half display to see off Laois in Hunterstown 0-19 to 0-11.

The sides were level at 0-8 apiece at half time but two Kelly points immediately after the restart gave the hosts the impetus to leave Laois in their slipstream.

Kelly, son of former Louth forward and manager Colin, added three more points and finished with 0-8 in the eight-point win.

The Leinster championship is composed of a dozen teams, including Kilkenny, split into three groups, and the winners of Group 1 and Group 2 qualify for seeded semi-finals.

Kildare also have a perfect record in Group 1 after beating Meath 1-16 to 1-11 and will face Louth in Round 3, a shoot-out for semi-final qualification.

The Lilies got on top early on against Meath with Greg Kelly's ninth-minute two-pointer leaving them 0-4 to 0-1 up at that stage.

Milo Stafford, nephew of Meath great Brian, levelled it up at 0-4 apiece with a two-pointer for Meath but Kildare then moved ahead and remained in pole position.

Logan Tennyson's 27th-minute goal helped Kildare to lead by 1-10 to 0-7 at half time, the corner forward pulling off a textbook back-door cut from the left before finishing to the net.

Conn Brennan's goal for Meath cut the deficit to three after 42 minutes but late two-pointers from Kildare duo Kelly and Jack Reilly sealed their win.

Offaly hammered Longford 6-23 to 1-12 in the other Group 2 game, leaving them tied on two points in the table with Dublin, behind Westmeath who are on four after two rounds.

First-half Offaly goals from Oliver Goulding and Jamie Harvey propelled them into a 2-14 to 0-6 half-time lead.

Paddy Burns hit Offaly's third goal. Darragh Stewart, Sean Monaghan and Shane Lawless raised further green flags in the last 20 minutes.

The four Group 3 teams - Kilkenny, Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow - are battling for two preliminary quarter-final spots. 

The third-placed team in Group 1, Meath or Laois, along with the third-placed team in Group 2, will claim the other preliminary quarter-final places.

Wicklow are top of Group 3 after backing up their Round 1 win over Wexford by defeating neighbours Carlow 3-15 to 1-19.

The Garden County led 3-10 to 0-4 at half time thanks in part to goals from Joe Keeshan, Odhran Cullen and Harry Butler. 

But a brilliant second-half display from Carlow left just two in at the final whistle.

Wexford also turned on the style in the second half, bouncing back from their loss to Wicklow by beating Kilkenny 2-15 to 1-4 despite being level at half time.