Wicklow's magnificent 2-6 to 0-8 victory over Dublin at Parnell Park was the stand-out scoreline in Round Four of the Leinster MFC.

Five games were played in blistering sunshine around the province tonight and there were also away victories for Louth and Longford, while Kildare and Meath enjoyed wins at home.

The Garden County have leapfrogged Dublin on the Group 1 table, as they now have five points from a possible eight, while the Dubs have lost two of their four outings to date.

Buoyed by their thumping victory over Westmeath in Round Three at the end of May, Wicklow were sensational in the first half tonight as they built up a commanding 2-4 to 0-4 interval lead.

Kevin Quinn's eleventh-minute major had them ahead by 1-2 to 0-1, with Mark Lavin having opened the scoring for Dublin before Matthew Ging and midfielder Sean Doody replied.

Ging and Lavin traded points and the Dubs seemed to be fighting back when points from Liam McGovern and Mathew Dunne drew them within two. But Eoin Darcy's goal three minutes from the break ensured the visitors of a six-point half-time cushion.

Despite only notching two points after the restart, Wicklow deservedly claimed their second win of the competition. Dublin are now in danger of missing out on the semi-finals. In order to get there, they must defeat Westmeath in their last group game next week and hope that Wickow slip up.

The Garden U17s will close their round-robin account with a tricky home game against Meath next Tuesday. The Royals tonight maintained their 100% record with a hard-fought 1-13 to 1-12 victory over Offaly in Navan.

The winners led by twelve points to eight with 13 minutes remaining, but Mikey Cunningham's 50^th-minute goal re-energised the Faithfuls, who led by 1-10 to 0-12 after 54 minutes. The hosts were down to 14 men as Cian McBride was dismissed with a second yellow card a minute earlier but they registered a fourth successive victory courtesy of a dramatic 58^th-minute goal from top scorer David Bell (1-5).

Luke Mitchell (3) and Bryan McCormack hit the first four points for the winners but Offaly levelled through Sean Courtney (two), Enda Coughlan and Aaron Kellaghan. However, the home side led by 0-9 to 0-4 at the break as Bell (4) and Mitchell added to their tally before the short whistle.

In tonight's other Group 1 game, Louth defeated Westmeath by 3-11 to 2-11 in a bottom-of-the-table thriller at Mullingar, Ryan Walsh (penalty) and Craig Shevlin raising green flags for the Wee County.

In Group 2, Kildare maintained their 100% record with a massive 5-10 to 1-6 victory over previously-unbeaten Laois in Newbridge. Aaron Kennedy, Niall Jackman, Tom Browne (2) and Drew Costello found the net for the Lilywhites, who are through to the last four with a game to spare.

Kildare's final group game is against Longford on Tuesday and the midlanders could pip Laois to a semi-funal place after their narrow 1-9 to 0-8 victory over Carlow at Dr Cullen Park, where Darragh O'Connell struck the only goal.

Wicklow - B Fennell; F O'Carroll, S Kearney, T Moran; K Quinn (1-0), O Cullen, G Fogarty; E Byrne, S Doody (0-1); A Barrett, C Maguire, J Keogh; M Ging (0-4, 2f), E Darcy (1-0), A Foley. Subs: C McDonald for A Barrett, C Grimes for E Byrne, J Fleming Foran (0-1) for M Ging, S Cranley for S Doody.

Dublin - S Bohan; E Farquharson, A Fearon, A Rafter; M O'Leary, E Cashman (0-2), M Lavin (0-2); S Foran, E Adamson; C Hennessy, M Dunne (0-1), L McGovern (0-1); S Guiden, L Swan, D Smith. Subs: D McLoughney for L McGovern, C McManus for M Dunne, C Murray (0-1) for C Hennessy, R Bolger (0-1) for D Smith, M Grogan for E Farquharson, L Dunne for M Grogan (BC).

Referee - D Fedigan.

**

Meath -  E Griffin; J O'Hare, H O'Higgins, C Farrelly (0-1); C Hickey, C Harford, S Coffey; A Reilly, C McBride; L Kelly, D Swaine, B McCormack (0-2); B O'Hanlon, D Bell (1-5, 0-1f), L Mitchell (0-5, 1f). Subs: N Bennett for A Reilly, A Treanor for L Kelly, C Hawdon for D Swaine, O McCloskey for B McCormack, J Moore for C Hawdon (BC).

Offaly - S O'Toole; A Brazil, K Dolan, B Nolan; E Cullen, R Egan, H Balsiger; C Donoghue, M Tynan (0-1); P Bennett, D Lowry, M Cunningham (1-0); S Courtney (0-4, 1f), E Coughlan (0-1), A Kellaghan (0-3, 1f). Subs: C Flynn for D Lowry, L Egan for P Bennett, J Bryant (0-3) for E Coughlan, L Pearson for M Cunningham.

Referee - N Ward.

**

Louth - J McGillick; F Lynch, C Callan, T Jackson (0-1); C Fleming (0-3f), C Shevlin (1-2), G Bell; C McCaul (0-2), J Mee; B Butterly, D Nally (0-2), R Hanlon; S Healy (1-1), R Walsh (1-0pen), E Ryan. Subs: M Begley for E Ryan, C Quigley for C Callan, J Winters for B Butterly.

Westmeath - C McCourt; C Drumm, C Daly, C Cleary (1-0); J Gahan, C Gibney, D Seery; J Coffey (0-1), K O'Sullivan; J McDonnell (0-1), J Torpey (0-3), S Fleming (0-2); A Donoghue (0-1), B McGauran (0-1f), E Gaffney (1-2). Subs: E Martin for A Donoghue, O Raleigh for C Cleary, D Keegan for j Coffey.

Referee - C Dwyer.

**

Kildare - J Ball; J Lynch, S Hill, J Hamill; N Jackman (1-0), K Kelliher, P McDermott (0-2); L Broderick (0-1), M Kiely; T Browne (2-0), A Beirne, M McGovern (0-2); M Curtin (0-4, 2f), A Kennedy (1-0), S Morrissey. Subs: J Smyth (0-1f) for S Morrissey, D Costello (1-0) for M Kiely, D Caulfield for P McDermott, D Higgins for A Beirne, S Englishby for N Jackman, P Wall for L Broderick.

Laois - T Wright; S Greene, M Bennett, C Byrne; N Carey, C Bennett, S Burns Mooney; B Conroy; S M Corcoran (0-1); D Galvin (0-1), D Larkin (1-0), C Doyle; S Farrelly, S O'Neill, R Bolger (0-2f). Subs: J Lacey (0-1) for S O'Neill, M O'Connell (0-1) for S Farrelly, E Delaney for D Galvin, C Donlon for S Burns Mooney.

Referee - F Pierce.

**

Longford - P Murray; D Moffett, D Ciglianio, C Nolan; C Belton, J Moran, P Dempsey; J Borland, R Prior; E Finneran, E McCormack, K McCann; R Leonard (0-1), D O'Connell (1-1), C Dooner (0-7, 2f). Subs: M O'Neill for C Belton, R Reilly for R Leonard, C O Nuallain for J Borland, J Kiernan for K McCann, C Leonard for D O'Connell.

Carlow - K Budzisz; C Connolly, C Bowden, J Dunne; M Behan, A Nolan, R Whelan; F Kavanagh, J O'Brien (0-3f); L Connolly, P Regan, P McDonnell (0-2); C Byrne (0-3, 2f), J McCullagh, B Crotty. Subs: C Duffy for M Behan, S Metcalfe for R Whelan, D Dunphy for P Regan.

Referee - N Hand.

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