Wexford 1-9 Carlow 0-11 Matty Forde took centre stage yesterday when his 38th-minute goal launched Wexford toward Division 1 football for the first time.

Wexford appeared to be struggling against a rampant Carlow early on in this Division 2B game at Wexford Park, but Forde's intervention settled them and his sublime finishing in general proved match-winning - he ended up with a personal tally of 1-7.

The victory leaves Wexford with 12 points and second to Longford (also with 12 points) on scoring aggregate but through to the Division 2 semi-finals thanks to Longford's amazing victory over Derry.

The visitors actually led 0-6 to 0-3 after 22 minutes, at which stage Wexford looked tentative, but in the end the scoring exploits of Forde proved irresistible on a great day for his team.

WEXFORD: J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; R Mallon, D Murphy, L O'Brien; R Hassey, W Carley; P Colfer, D Breen, M Forde (1-7, 7 frees); S Doran (0-2), J Hegarty, P Carley. Subs: A Morrissey for Doran (inj 39 mins); R Stafford for Hegarty (47); T Wall for Mallon (56); D Fogarty for Colfer (61).

CARLOW: J Clarke; J Keogh, B Farrell, V Fleming; J Hayden, S O'Brien, Johnny Kavanagh; J McGrath, D Byrne; J Nevin (0-2), T Walsh (0-1), M Carpenter; S Rea (0-6, 3 frees), P Nolan (0-1), John Kavanagh (0-1). Subs: M Brennan for Byrne (31); G Morrissey for Rea (65); D Walker for John Kavanagh (71).

Referee: N Cooney (Offaly).