Carlow built on a great start which saw them lead 1-5 to nil after 15 minutes to fashion victory at Dr Cullen Park. An understrength Wicklow trailed 1-3 to 1-7 at half-time and introduced top forwards Kevin O'Brien and Trevor Doyle for the second period, only to see them bottled up by the home side's defence.
Carlow, for whom Jody Morrissey at midfield was outstanding, then raised the siege and killed off the game with a well-taken goal from Anthony Kavanagh. A late goal from O'Brien made little difference.
CARLOW: J Clarke; B Farrell, A Corden, V Fleming; C Kelly, S O'Brien, J Kavanagh; J Morrissey (0-1), P Nolan; P Kingston (0-1), S Kavanagh (0- 1), P Nolan (0-2); J Nevin (0-4), R Donnelly (1- 1), A Kavanagh (1-1). Subs: M Nolan (0-2) for J Kavanagh; J Hughes for Kingston; M Carpenter for Nolan; D Connolly for Fleming
WICKLOW: P Daniels; S Nolan, B O'Donovan, R Doyle; B O'Hannaidh, M Coffey, A Foley; D Doran, B Sheehan; K Byrne, K Shannon, J O'Keeffe (0- 1); T Gill (0-3), J Jackman, O O'Hannaidh (0-1). Subs: R Gammel (1-0) for Jackman; K O'Brien (1-0) for Shannon; T Doyle for O'Keeffe; R Coffey (0-1) for O O'Hannaidh; S O'Neill (0-1) for Doran.
Referee P O'Reilly, Longford.
