Leinster SF / Rathnew 0-14 Clara 1-09: Rathnew sharpshooter Tommy Gill proved the hero for his team when in a tense finish he blazed home two injury-time points for victory over Clara of Offaly in the Leinster championship opener at Aughrim yesterday.

Rathnew were reduced to 14 men with four minutes left on the clock when Trevor Doyle picked up his second yellow card for a foul.

Thomas Deehan lofted the resulting free over the bar to level the scores again at 1-9 to 0-12 before Gill came to the rescue of Rathnew.

RATHNEW: T Murphy; B Mernagh, M Coffey, C Murphy; E Franey, S Byrne, S Doherty; J Stafford (0-1), D Coffey; M Doyle (0-1), T Doyle (0-2), A Mernagh; T Gill (0-9), R Coffey, N Mernagh (0-1). Subs: D Byrne for N Mermagh

CLARA: K Meehan; A Cronin, W Reynolds, E Dunne; P Maher, S Brady, T O'Brien; M Meehan. M Daly; T Dalton (1-0), J Quinn, K O'Meara; M Mitchell (0-3), J Reynolds, T Deehan (0-6). Subs: P Moran for S Brady, E Maher for O'Meara, C Scanlon for Dalton, L Mitchell for Cronin.

Referee: M Monaghan (Kildare).