Strong Dublin start finishes off Wicklow

Paul Earls opened the hosts’ account with an impressive point in the 16th minute but by that juncture Dublin had already five points on the board.

Things got progressively worse too for the Garden County thereafter as the Dubs played some fine football to storm into a 0-12 to 0-1 lead by the half-hour.

Wicklow got a lifeline out of the blue though when a great move by JP Dalton and Earls saw Tony Hannon break through for a goal with 32 minutes on the clock.

The Wicklow fans among the 4,500 crowd were boosted by the goal but yet saw their charges go in at the interval 1-1 to 0-13 in arrears.

Backed by the wind on the restart, Wicklow improved and points from Earls and Hannon helped cut their deficit to six points, 1-4 to 0-13.

However that was as good as it got for the hosts and although the Dubs went 27 minutes without scoring, Wicklow just hadn’t the ammunition to grab the goals to pull the fat from the fire.

Wicklow - J Bolger; C Hyland, D O hAnnaidh, A Byrne; S Cushe, C Foley, K Manning; J Stafford (0-1), D Jackman; J Slattery, JP Dalton, P Phibbs; L Glynn, P Earls (0-3), T Hannon (1-1). Sub - S King for Phibbs.

Dublin - S Cluxton; C Prenderville, P Griffin, N O’Shea; C Goggins, C Moran, G Brennan; D Magee, D O’Mahony; D Connolly (0-5), D Lally, D Murray (0-1); A Brogan (0-3), K Bonner (0-1), C Keaney (0-5). Subs - E Fennell for Magee (blood); P Burke for Bonner; J Magee for D Magee (blood); D Magee for O’Mahony; B Cahill for Lally; T Quinn for Burke.