IT Tralee 2-10 Dundalk IT 0-12: Midfielder Michael Quirke inspired IT Tralee to victory over Dundalk in Birr yesterday.

Quirke sent Padraig Browne bursting through the Dundalk defence to rifle the ball to the roof of the Dundalk net after just five minutes.

Dundalk rallied and cut the deficit to a point at the end of the first quarter but Tralee led by 1-4 to 0-6 at the interval.

An exchange of points left Tralee with a 1-8 to 0-9 lead with 13 minutes left. Dundalk's Cathal Quinn closed the gap before a point from Brian Dillon levelled the contest with eight minutes remaining.

Tralee put in a storming finish with a Brendan Flaherty goal in the 55th minute and a point from Declan Barron settled the issue.

IT TRALEE: S Murphy; E O'Mahony, A O'Connell, C Martin; C Ceileachair, P Browne (1-0), T O'Leary; M Quirke (0-1), J Best; D McCarthy, E Coughlan (0-2), B Flaherty (1-1); D Barron (0-1), S O'Shea (0-1), M Collins (0-4, two frees). Subs: P O'Connell for McCarthy.

DUNDALK IT: S McCoy; D Teelin, T Dillon, P Clarke; B Flood, D McMahon, S Harte; F Markey (0-1), F Murphy; J O'Brien (0-1), B Dillon (0-6, four frees), C Galligan; M McGeown (0-1), B Farrell (0-2, one free), M Shankey. Subs: C Quinn (0-1) for O'Brien.

Referee: P Devlin (Kilkenny).