Kildare on cloud nine as they ease past Wicklow

Kildare 9-23 Wicklow 0-5

Kildare completed their second win inside a week in the Leinster MHC with a very convincing win over near neighbours Wicklow in a wet and windy Hawkfield on Saturday afternoon.

A comfortable 20-point victory over Carlow on Monday night coupled with this equally impressive third round victory pushed Kildare into the knockout stages where they will meet Meath on Friday next.

Playing with the aid of the weather conditions in the opening half, Kildare hit three goals through Charlie Carroll, team captain Tim Ryan and Michael Owens to lead 3-13 to 0-2 at the break.

Carroll opened the scoring inside 60 seconds from a 65 and further points from Oisin Loughrane, Carroll and Tim Ryan had the Lilywhites 1-8 to no score up at the end of the opening quarter. Carroll converted a 12th-minute penalty after Michael Owens was fouled.

Tim Ryan and Michael Owens added further goals to ensure a 20-point interval lead.

The dismissal of Wicklow half back Daniel Burns for a second yellow on 30 minutes did nothing to help the Wicklow men as all they had to show were two Lorcan Byrne points.

The opening five minutes of the second half saw Kildare add three further goals, Mark Kiernan with two and Tom Power getting his opening goal on 32.

Lorcan Byrne added three second-half points for Wicklow but they had no answer to a rampant Kildare. Michael Kiernan and Michael Owens completed their hat tricks as the gulf in class was all to evident.

Kildare: Fionn Kelly, Paul L'estrange, Colm Gordan, James Bedford, Ben Mulligan, Joe Dunne, Ronan O Malley, Tim Ryan 1-2, Oran Byrne, Oisin Loughrane 0-1, Charlie Carroll 1-8 (6 frees, 1 '65), Noah Farrell 0-4 (3 frees), Michael Owens 3-1, Mark Kiernan 3-0, Tom Power 1-5.

SUBS: Olan Hynes Kelly for Tim Ryan H/T, Shane Henry 0-2 for Charlie Carroll H/T, Cillian Power for James Bedford H/T, Cian O Donovan for Oran Byrne (41), Cormac Doolan for Fionn Kelly (41)

Wicklow: Cian Redmond, Tom Meyler, Emmett Ronan, Ken Cullen, Andy Corrigan, Darragh Shannon, Daniel Burns, Alec Bartec, Oscar Lane, Lorcan Byrne 0-5 (4 frees), David Peppard, Jack Caffrey, Max Kehoe, Ciaran Traynor, Fionn D'Arcy.

SUBS: Killian O Keeffe for Tom Meyler (18); Oisin O Neill for Fionn D'Arcy (43); Joshua Barry for Jack Caffrey (45); Josh Mahon for David Peppard (49)

Referee: Rory Hanley (Dublin)