Louth will meet Dublin in the next round of the Leinster Football Championship following a convincing victory over Wicklow at Croke Park yesterday.

Wicklow, fielding eight players making championship debuts, were overwhelmed as Louth had a field day with five of their starting six forwards scoring.

Even when Wicklow grabbed an early goal through Breandán Ó hAnnaidh, Louth were untroubled, and throughout the game they gave the impression of a team playing within themselves and capable of doing enough to keep their noses in front.

The game should have been over as a contest within the opening 10 minutes as Wicklow goalkeeper Robert Hollingsworth twice denied Louth certain goals with fine saves from Martin Farrelly and Mark Stanfield, meaning all Louth had to show for their opening dominance was a solitary Nick McDonnell point.

Their early wastefulness looked like it might prove costly when Ó hAnnaidh rifled the ball home from the edge of the square after racing onto a pass from his brother Dara, but JP Rooney settled Louth with a pointed free and for the rest of the game they easily had the measure of their opponents.

Rooney grabbed Louth's opening goal when he hammered the ball under Hollingsworth from a tight angle after 16 minutes to put Louth back in front, and three further points arrived before Stanfield grabbed the second goal of the game to give Louth a six-point half-time lead.

Early in the second half, Louth grabbed two quick points through Farrelly and Ollie McDonnell, and a third goal, from Stanfield, virtually decided the game.

Anthony Nolan pulled one goal back for the Garden County after a quick passing move. And although a point by Donal McGillycuddy cut the deficit to eight points with 10 minutes remaining, two quick frees by Rooney put Louth back on track before a final goal by Rooney and a flurry of points in injury time made it an 11-point margin.

Louth manager Paddy Carr was pleased but admitted that his team will need to play much better against Dublin.

"Dublin are always the team everybody wants to beat but we'll have to do better than we did today," he said. "But it's always important to get past the first game and build from there."

LOUTH: S Reynolds; A Page, A Hoey, D Brennan; S Gerard, P McGinnity, B Clarke; K Reilly, S O'Hanlon; N McDonnell (0-2), M Farrelly (0-2), P Keenan; O McDonnell (0-3), M Stanfield (2-1), JP Rooney (2-4, 0-3 from frees). Subs: J Clerkin for B Clarke (45, inj), D Reilly for P Keenan (53), J Clerkin for B Clarke (70), C Grimes for N McDonnell (70).

WICKLOW: R Hollingsworth; C Hyland, E O'Neill, T Burke; C Davis (0-1), B Ó hAnnaidh (1-0), B Flynn; D Ó hAnnaidh, G Jameson; B Mernagh, T Gill (0-3, 0-2 from frees), P Dalton; A Nolan (1-1, 0-1 from free), D McGillycuddy (0-1, 0-1 from free), P Cronin (0-1). Subs: A Byrne for T Burke (49), C Byrne for R Hollingsworth (52), D Dillon for B Flynn (63), D Dempsey for A Nolan (70), B Canavan for P Cronin (70).

Referee: Michael Hughes (Tyrone).

Westmeath too cagey for gun-shy Carlow

Score-shy does not even begin to describe Carlow's most notable shortcoming in a match which saw them surprisingly in control of their own destiny against strongly fancied Westmeath at Croke Park yesterday.

The favourites, however, somehow emerged flattered and unconvincing five points winners only because they were let off the hook in the most bizarre manner as Carlow were in self-destruct mode.

Carlow fulfilled their customary role as under achievers more so than at any time during a hapless footballing history because of the number of times they failed to hit the back of the Westmeath net.

The opportunities they squandered to cause the big surprise came gift-wrapped in the opening minutes of the second half but their ability to create the chance far outstripped their ability to finish the job against a stranded Westmeath defence.

Westmeath manager Luke Dempsey was not exactly prepared for such a fright. "We were lucky they missed their chances," he conceded.

By the time substitute Willie Minchin eventually rattled the winners' net with the last kick of the match Carlow should have had at least four goals in the bag.

Westmeath goalkeeper Aidan Lennon had produced all of his career-best saves by the time the second half was five minutes in motion.

Five points in arrears at the interval, Carlow came out for the second half with all guns blazing and from the restart Lennon was called on to save from Mark Carpenter at the expense of a 45.

Within a minute, however, Lennon was wrong-footed like the rest of his defenders, with the exception of wing back Brian Morley who got back to clear another Carpenter effort away for a 45. This time Simon Rea pointed from the kick to reduce the deficit to four points.

The pressure was maintained by the eager Carlow men and a third 45 was forced when Lennon was once more seen to good effect in deflecting a close-range Rea drive wide off his right post.

Rea could not believe his bad luck when his well-placed shot, out of Lennon's reach, rebounded off a post.

The storm had blown itself out and Westmeath gathered themselves with admirable composure to re-establish a semblance of authority, with Dessie Dolan, Fergal Whelan and JP Casey sniping important points to keep the by now frustrated Carlow men at bay.

But more wayward shooting by the challengers continued and Westmeath were too often on the back foot for comfort.

Lennon's brilliance notwithstanding, Carlow must shoulder the blame for not putting their chances away for, in each instance, the Westmeath cover was outfoxed and the overlaps should have been translated into winning scores.

"If we are to play like that against Meath there would be no point in turning up," said an annoyed Dempsey. "Carlow," he continued, "were fit, eager and motivated."

According to Carlow manager Mick Condon, his charges lost their way for a while in the second quarter, when Westmeath got their goal. "But I knew we were better than what we showed for most of that first half," he said.

Shane Colleary's goal revealed a great lack of concentration in the Carlow defence as the Mullingar Shamrocks man was unmarked when collecting a Gary Dolan centre towards the right. James Clarke was given no chance with Colleary's pile-driver from 10 yards set Westmeath up for a 1-9 to 0-7 half-time lead.

WESTMEATH: A Lennon; D Heavin, D Gavin, K Henson; B Morley, D Healy, D Kilmartin; R O'Connell, M Flanagan; F Wilson (0-5, 2fs), S Colleary (1-1), J Conroy; JP Casey (0-4), G Dolan, D Dolan (0-7, 2fs, 45). Subs: F Murray for Healy 26 mins; D O Shaughnessy for Conroy 47 mins; A Mangan for Colleary 53 mins; S Mitchell for Wilson 67 mins.

CARLOW: J Clarke; C McCarthy, B Farrell, V Fleming; J Hayden (0-1), S O'Brien, B English; T Walsh, W Power (0-1); J Nevin (0-2), M Carpenter (0-2), J Kavanagh; S Rea (0-4, 1f, 45), J McGrath, P Nolan (0-1). Subs: J Keogh for Fleming half time; B Kelly for P Nolan 42 mins. Subs: W Minchin (1-0) for Kelly 48 mins; R Burke for Farrell 61 mins; D Byrne (0-1) for McGrath 68 mins.