Kildare controlled the second half to defeat Wicklow by 0-12 to 0-5 at O'Moore Park.

An official attendance of 9,304 turned out in Portlaoise for today's championship double-header and they might have expected a close finish in the second match but Wicklow failed to raise a flag in the second half until the fourth added minute, while Kildare struck seven successive points to ease into the quarter-finals.

Wind-assisted Kildare bossed the first half territorially but they amassed ten wides before the break and their interval lead was a mere point, 0-5 to 0-4. Seanie Furlong and Austin O'Malley got a brace each for Micko's men in the first half.

Captain John Doyle started at midfield for the Lilywhites in place of the injured Daryl Flynn, while Tomas O'Connor and Alan Smith were both named in the full forward line, the former effectively replacing Flynn while the later was a late inclusion in place of James Kavanagh.

Wing back Emmet Bolton and midfielder Hugh Lynch had early wides for Kieran McGeeney's team and the pre-match favourites also manufactured a goal chance inside the first three minutes.

Doyle slotted over the opening point in the fourth minute. Kildare had wind advantage and Doyle doubled their lead from a free before Hugh McGrillen got forward to send a shot wide.

After O'Malley dropped an effort short, Wicklow thought they might have had a penalty when full forward Furlong went down quite easily close to goal but referee Marty Duffy was having none of it. O'Malley then won a free, which Furlong slotted between the posts on ten minutes, closing the gap to one.

O'Connor almost poached a Kildare goal when Travers spilled Bolton's dropping shot but full back Alan Byrne diverted the ball out for a 45, which Gary White converted with aplomb: 0-3 to 0-1.

Target man Furlong brilliantly won Tony Hannon's long delivery to turn and boot over the Garden County's second point and there was just a point between the teams at the end of the opening quarter: 0-3 to 0-2 in Kildare's favour.

In the 21st minute, O'Malley twisted to fire over the equaliser after interchanging with Furlong and captain Leighton Glynn. Alan Smith gathered an O'Connor pass to restore Kildare's cushion in the 25th minute and Kavanagh was introduced into the action eight minutes from the break.

Smith registered Kildare's sixth wide in the 29th minute but Hugh Lynch thumped over an excellent point from play on the half-hour mark: 0-5 to 0-3. Doyle danced through the Wicklow defence but his curling shot was adjudged to have tailed narrowly wide and Lynch added an eighth wide for the dominant Lilywhites. Substitute Eamonn Callaghan made it nine…

There was still time for one more Kildare wide before O'Malley closed the first-half scoring in the second minute of additional time.

The sun made a welcome appearance for the start of the second half, but a devilish wind still gusted around O'Moore Park. Towering Kildare full forward O'Connor got the first score after the resumption when he initially fisted Doyle's wicked delivery onto the crossbar before reacting quickest to the rebound to fist it between the posts.

The Kildare defence slammed the door in O'Malley's face and Ciaran Hyland was equally unyielding in denying Smith at the other end. When strapping midfielder James Stafford was unceremoniously stopped by White, Wicklow won a free, which O'Malley sent wide. There had been just one point since the restart and Kildare led by two, 0-6 to 0-4, after 45 minutes.

Kavanagh dropped a very meek effort into Travers' arms as the scoring drought continued and Doyle demonstrated remarkable work-rate as he snuffed out a couple of dangerous Wicklow attacks. In the 47th minute, Smith boomed over his second point to put three in it.

Little of note happened until the 56th minute, when referee Duffy had to depart the fray with a muscle pull and Syl Doyle replaced him. On 57 minutes, Doyle dropped over a brilliant free into the wind to put four points between them. Wicklow had yet to score in the second half.

Sub Conor McGraynor posted a wide for the struggling Garden County and All Star Doyle followed up with a wide for the winners. O'Malley deservedly picked up a straight red card for elbowing Andrew MacLochlainn in the face and Doyle arrowed over another superb free five minutes from the end: 0-9 to 0-4.

Smith took his third point in the 69th minute after good work from O'Connor and Bolton raided forward to add to Wicklow's woes before substitute Padraig Fogarty completed the winners' scoring in the second minute of added time.

In the 74th minute, Glynn tapped over Wicklow's only score of the second half from a close-range free.

Kildare: S Connolly; A MacLochlainn, M Foley, H McGrillen; G White (0-1), B Flanagan, E Bolton (0-1); J Doyle (0-4), H Lynch (0-1); M O'Flaherty, E O'Flaherty, P O'Neill; T O'Connor (0-1), R Sweeney, A Smith (0-3). Subs: J Kavanagh for E O'Flaherty, E Callaghan for B Flanagan, P Fogarty (0-1) for R Sweeney, F Dowling for T O'Connor.

Wicklow: M Travers; C Hyland, A Byrne, S Kelly; M McLoughlin, B McGrath, D Hayden; J Stafford, R Finn; T Hannon, P Dalton, P Earls; A O'Malley (0-2), S Furlong (0-2), L Glynn (0-1). Subs: C McGraynor for T Hannon, M Mernagh for P Dalton, JP Dalton for R Finn. Tweet

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