Gaelic Games

Wicklow advance after taking a while to get in gear against Carlow

Oisín McConville says his side, who will now meet Kildare in the next round, are ‘capable of more’

Wicklow’s Patrick O’Keane with Conor Doyle and Josh Moore of Carlow in pursuit during the Leinster SFC game in Aughrim on Sunday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Paul Keane in Aughrim
Sun Apr 9 2023 - 17:54

Leinster SFC first round: Wicklow 2-12 Carlow 0-10

Hardly a performance that will strike fear into Leinster SFC quarter-final opponents Kildare, but then Wicklow were hardly at their very best either.

That was manager Oisín McConville’s pragmatic assessment of a most unremarkable win over neighbouring Carlow in Aughrim.

Fresh off a National League Division Four outing at Croke Park, Wicklow took 20 minutes or so to get going before overwhelming Carlow and leaving Niall Carew’s side in their slipstream.

Malachy Stone’s goal in first-half stoppage time gave Wicklow the lead for the first time and they built on their 1-5 to 0-6 interval advantage with a commanding second-half.

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McConville acknowledged they should have won by more with their second goal only arriving in the 69th minute when Eoin Darcy struck to an empty net, punishing goalkeeper Ciaran Cunningham who had abandoned sentry duty to help outfield.

Wicklow manager Oisín McConville has words with a member of the Carlow backroom team after the game. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Carlow, for whom captain Darragh Foley top scored with 0-4 on his 150th appearance, will revert to the Tailteann Cup while Wicklow have a weekend off before facing Kildare on April 23rd.

“They’ll not fear us or anything like that,” said McConville of Kildare. “There’s nothing that will scare anybody from what we played today – but we’re capable of more.”

Carlow drew with Wicklow in the opening round of Division Four but both teams appear to have gone in opposite directions since. The visitors attempted to contain McConville’s side and, initially at least, got some joy with Ciaran Moran sweeping.

Wicklow’s Dean Healy’s daughter Fiadh goes through the warm-down with the Wicklow team after the game. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

They stifled Wicklow for the first 20 minutes and opened up a 0-5 to 0-2 lead thanks in part to a couple of Foley points.

That was about as good as it got for Carlow who only added another two points, from Colm Hulton and Jamie Clarke, until the 71st minute when the game was essentially up.

Points late in the first-half from Kevin Quinn and Mark Kenny preceded Stone’s well-taken goal for Wicklow who took advantage of the helping wind in the second-half to assert their authority.

WICKLOW: M Jackson (0-2,two frees); M Stone (1-0), P McLoughlin, E Murtagh; K Furlong, P O’Keane, Z Cullen; D Healy, P O’Toole (0-1); C McDonald, JP Hurley, A Murphy; M Kenny (0-2), K Quinn (0-4, one free), E Darcy (1-2, one free).

Subs: C Maguire for Hurley (blood, 40-45 mins), G Murphy (0-1) 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).

CARLOW: C Cunningham; S Buggy, M Bambrick, L Roberts; S Bambrick, M Furey, S Clarke; J Morrissey (0-1), C Doyle; J Moore, C Moran, J Clarke (0-1); R Dunphy (0-1), D Foley (0-4, three frees), C Hulton (0-3).

Subs: N Hickey for Furey (h-t), J Dunne for Roberts (53 mins), E Molloy for Dunphy (56), D Curran for S Bambrick (71).

Referee: B Tiernan (Dublin).

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