Marty Kavanagh's injury-time goal saw Carlow beat Dublin by 1-13 to 1-11 at Parnell Park tonight.

A resilient Carlow side simply refused to give up in this dramatic first-round encounter and they got their just rewards when St Mullins clubman Kavanagh struck the winner right at the death to leave the home side stunned.

The Barrowsiders were extremely unfortunate not to reach a first-ever provincial final in this grade last year and they are now on course to perhaps make history in 2013.

Despite the fact that their opponents got off to a better start, Carlow produced a spirited first-half performance to deservedly lead by 0-9 to 1-5 at the turnaround.

Full forward Eamonn Dillon's early goal had Dublin in the boss seat as the hosts moved into a 1-3 to 0-3 lead after 15 minutes.

Jamie Desmond had opened the scoring from a free and the Dubs also had points inside the opening quarter from Glen Whelan and Danny Sutcliffe.

Spurred on by the scoring exploits of Kavanagh, Daryl Roberts and James Doyle, the gallant Barrowsiders kept motoring and closed the gap to a single point before county senior Sutcliffe grabbed his second score of the night to make it 1-4 to 0-5.

John Michael Nolan blasted over a brilliant brace to bring the visitors level with five minutes left before the break but an Aodhan Clabby free saw the hosts stick their noses back in front.

However, this Carlow team was full of confidence and they added two more sublime points before the break - courtesy of Darren Dalton and James Doyle - to take the narrowest of advantages into the interval.

Another Clabby free brought Dublin level in the first minute after the restart but both sides were guilty of missing opportunities early in the second half, the hosts in particular left with red cheeks as their wides tally rose to eight…

Clabby clipped over his third free in the 39th minute to edge the losers back ahead and the same player slotted his third successive point (free) to leave two points between them with 14 minutes left, 1-8 to 0-9.

Goalkeeper Brian Tracey (Naomh Eoin) performed heroics to keep the sliothar from hitting his net for a second time and the sides were soon level again as John Corcoran and Kavanagh registered two more points for Pat English's team.

Captain Sutcliffe restored Dublin's lead six minutes from time and substitute Devlin doubled the difference within 60 seconds as Shay Boland's men made a late surge for the winning line but, incredibly, the visitors again rallied with two more points to once more draw level, this time with just two minutes remaining.

Whelan's 69th-minute point looked like it would propel the Metropolitans through to the next round but there was a sting in the tail as Kavanagh popped up with the winning goal in injury time to give Carlow a remarkable victory.

Carlow scorers - M Kavanagh 1-3 (0-3f), JM Nolan 0-4, J Doyle, D Dalton 0-2 each, D Roberts, J Corcoran 0-1 each.

Dublin scorers - A Clabby 0-4f, D Sutcliffe 0-3, E Dillon 1-0, G Whelan 0-2, J Desmond (0-1f), T Devlin 0-1 each.

Carlow - B Treacy; D Galway, P Doyle, D Wall; G Bennett, J Corcoran, D Byrne; C Wall, P Coady; JM Nolan, D Dalton, M Kavanagh; P Shaw, J Doyle, D Roberts. Subs: L Kinsella for Bennett, P Fortune for Shaw.

Dublin - C Dooley; R Mullins, M McCaffrey, C Murphy; S Moran, J Desmond, C Crummey; C Costello, G Whelan; C Kilkenny, D Sutcliffe, C McHugh; F McGibb, E Dillon, A Clabby. Subs: D Mulligan for McHugh, T Devlin for McGibb.

Referee - J Keenan. Tweet

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