Louth, Wexford and Wicklow are through to the Leinster SFC quarter-finals as Carlow, Offaly and Laois enter the Tailteann Cup following today's round 1 action in the eastern province.

Louth's five-star performance in Pairc Tailteann was more than enough to send Carlow crashing down to the new second tier All-Ireland football championship which will get underway at the end of next month.

The Wee County booked a last eight date against Kildare in seven days' time courtesy of a convincing 5-10 to 0-10 victory over the Barrowsiders in Navan.

Bouyed by the success of lifting the Division 3 title, Mickey Harte's side were once again led to victory by captain Sam Mulroy, scorer of 2-6 on the day.

They dominated from start to finish with goals from Conor Grimes and Ciaran Byrne knocking the stuffing out of the Barrowsiders, who trailed by 2-6 to 0-5 at half time.

Louth lost former AFL star Byrne to injury after the break, but it made little difference though as Carlow were unable to make sufficient headway in the second half when playing with the elements.

Midfielder Tommy Durnin grabbed a fourth goal to put 10 points between the teams with 20 minutes left on the clock and Mulroy added two more in the closing stages, his second coming from a penalty after a foul on Ciaran Downey.

Meanwhile, Shane Roche's Wexford earned themselves a glamour home tie with holders Dublin next Saturday evening after getting the better of Offaly by 1-15 to 1-12 at Chadwicks Wexford Park.

Ben Brosnan's 54th minute goal proved all-important for the Model County, who had Kevin O’Grady sent off for a second yellow card in injury time. 

Leading 0-5 to 0-6 at the change of ends, Offaly went further ahead on the restart when substitute Lee Pearson scored a goal on his championship debut.

But backed by the breeze in the second period, Wexford upped their game, scoring an unanswered 1-7 to turn the tie around.

John Maughan's men rallied to close the gap to two points, but a brace from goalkeeper Darragh Brooks and substitute Tom Byrne ensured the win for the hosts.

At the County Grounds in Aughrim, a hat-trick of goals from Kevin Quinn inspired Wicklow to their first championship victory over Laois in 36 years and their reward is a trip to Navan to face Meath after coming through a nine-goal thriller, 5-15 to 4-12.

Gary Walsh issued an early statement of intent, slamming the ball to the Wicklow net on four minutes but the hosts were rampant and compiled a massive 3-11 to 2-3 interval lead.

Eoin Darcy, Padraig O’Toole and Quinn fired first half goals in response to Laois majors from Walsh and Sean O'Flynn as the team jointly managed by Alan Costello and Gary Duffy took proceedings by the scruff of the neck.

Despite playing against the wind, Wicklow stretched their advantage to 16 points 10 minutes into the second half as Blessington clubman Quinn completed his hat-trick with two three pointers in quick succession.

A Paddy O’Sullivan goal and another for Walsh left the scoreboard reading 5-15 to 4-9 before the latter was shown a straight red card.

Leinster SFC round 1
Louth 5-10 Carlow 0-10
Wexford 1-15 Offaly 1-12
Wicklow 5-15 Laois 4-12

Leinster SFC quarter-finals
(Saturday 30 April)
Westmeath v Longford, TEG Cusack Park, 6pm
Dublin v Wexford, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 6.30pm
(Sunday 1 May)
Kildare v Louth, Bord na Mona O'Connor Park, 4pm
Meath v Wicklow, Pairc Tailteann, 2pm

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