Senior footballers cruise to 19-point victory

DUBLIN 3-24 IT CARLOW 2-8

Dublin had it all their own way as they cruised to a 19-point victory over IT Carlow in their Bord na Móna O'Byrne Cup clash at Russell Park on Wednesday night.

Jim Gavin's men opened quickly and their tempo and movement left the students in the slipstream as they enjoyed a commanding 17-point lead by the half-time break.

The Dubs controlled the opening 35 minutes with fittingly local hero, Paddy Andrews, leading from the front.

Andrews opened Dublin's account in the first minute and points followed from Conor McGuire, the impressive duo of Michael Deegan and Cormac Costello (free), Tomás Brady, Deegan again and Shane Carthy.

Dublin were rocked by a goal from the students in the 14th minute from Mark Sherry but normal service soon resumed as Andrews slotted a brace of points.

Cormac Costello then added to his tally with 1-1 from play and when Andrews excellently lobbed a goal in the 27th minute Dublin had cruised into a 2-11 to 1-1 lead.

By the interval Deegan, Philly McMahon, McGuire and Brady had extended Dublin's tally to grant them a 17-point interval advantage, 2-16 to 1-2.

The second half started in the same predominantly one-sided fashion with Jason Whelan and Deegan quickly strengthening Dublin's lead on the restart.

Six minutes into the second half Adam Caffrey was fouled in the penalty area and Costello despatched the spot-kick to make it 3-18 to 1-3.

Points from Deegan and Costello (free) continued to pile misery on the Carlow students as Dublin moved 23 points clear by the 43rd minute.

Dublin face DCU this weekend in the concluding game of their group. The top team in the group progresses to the Bord na Móna O'Byrne Cup semi-finals.

DCU defeated Wexford 1-8 to 1-3 on Wednesday night so currently top the group after two victories (IT Carlow and Wexford) and have a points difference of +22 as opposed to Dublin who have a draw (v Wexford) and a win (v IT Carlow) and have a scoring difference of +19 so a victory for the Dubs this weekend would see them advance to the semi-finals.

SCORERS - Dublin: C Costello 2-6 (1-0 pen, 0-4f), P Andrews 1-3, M Deegan 0-5, T Brady, S Carthy, C McGuire, J Whelan 0-2 each, N Scully, P McMahon 0-1 each. IT Carlow: C Healy 1-3, M Sherry 1-0, K Ryan, C Conroy (0-2f) 0-2 each, N Kane 0-1.

DUBLIN: M Savage; E Culligan, J Curley, O Manning; N Scully, P McMahon, J Small; C Reddin, T Brady; J Whelan, M Deegan, S Carthy; C Costello, P Andrews, C McGuire. Subs: G Hannigan for Curley (ht), M Concarr for Small (ht), J McCarthy for Brady (ht), N Walsh for Carthy (ht), A Caffrey for Andrews (ht), J Cooper for Reddin (45).

IT CARLOW: R Sansom; I Ilunga, T Featherston, T O'Connell; A Dever, D Dunne, D Smyth; W Young, M Russell; C Conroy, K Ryan, E Buggie; C Healy, M Sherry, M Hurley. Subs: J Mitchell for Dunne (ht), N Kane for O'Connell (ht), S McGraynor for Young (53), D Aston for Russell (66), A O'Brien for Hurley (69).

REF: N Hand (Louth).

ATT: 1,000 (estimate).