Leinster SFC First round: Carlow 4-9, Wicklow 0-12 When Hugh Kenny emerged with bowed head from the Wicklow dressingroom we expected him to be down, but not out.
He'd seen his team easily out-mastered and out-gunned by Carlow - their closest of rivals and the one team Wicklow felt they could beat - but at least there's the qualifiers to fall back on. Instead Kenny had seen enough.
"That's it," he said, unprompted. "I've just wished the lads well, because that's it for me. I'd made up my mind a while ago if we didn't beat Carlow in the championship that was the end for me. I kept that secret to myself, but I'm sticking to that now."
Kenny's decision to resign after three seasons in charge leaves Wicklow without a manager going into the qualifiers.
"To be honest I feel a little relieved," added Kenny. "I'll always be there to support them. But I think the time is right for me to make way, and let someone else take over. Carlow were the better team. We just didn't play the way we're capable, and that's the most disappointing thing.
"But I think Wicklow are going in the right direction. Over the last three years I suppose I've blooded up to 50 players. I think the team are also used to the right preparation now, the training methods, and are also being looked after well. So I think it's time for Wicklow to seriously look at appointing a high-profile manager to bring that extra bit of impetus to the team."
The only hope now is one of Kenny's backroom team will take over for as long as Wicklow stay in the qualifiers - but it's hardly an appealing offer. They were very poor yesterday, fumbling more scoring chances than anyone could remember. Half of their points came in the last 10 minutes when Carlow had effectively stopped playing, and yes, if it were a boxing match someone might have thrown in the towel.
When a window of blue sky miraculously opened over Wexford Park shortly before throw-in time we were briefly captured by that old championship prospect - gripping, end-to-end football, voraciously roared on by the crowd. Both teams started out with great determination, believing they may not be better than the other, but they were just as good. Unfortunately that didn't last over the 70 minutes, with Carlow soon proving they were in fact much better.
In the end whatever exciting skills displayed by Carlow were overshadowed by their gradual decline in discipline. Corner back Trevor Smith's dismissal for a second yellow on 52 minutes reduced them to 14 men, and they finished with 13 when full back Mark Brennan along with Wicklow's Wayne O'Gorman was shown a straight red card four minutes later for a localised display of Greco-Roman wrestling.
Carlow manager Liam Hayes defended his players, and hopes to get Brennan cleared for their home quarter-final meeting with Laois on June 4th: "What I saw of it there were no punches thrown. I was looking at it fairly closely. In fact the ref was off the pace for a lot of the game. He just reacted. I don't think he saw it. We'll certainly be asking the authorities to have a good look at it."
They'll definitely need to be at full strength to have any chance of beating Laois, but there were flashes of Carlow's prospects yesterday - starting with midfielder Thomas Walsh. His searing run from the halfway line to the goalmouth produced their first goal on 28 minutes, a move any midfielder in the country will find hard to match this summer. Walsh dominated midfield with his brother, Patrick, who chipped in with a point in the second half.
Carlow's three other goals came at regular intervals during the second half, with Alan Kelly giving them the dream start after the turnaround by fisting home Mark Carpenter's free. The super-talented Simon Rea finished off their third on 54 minutes after some fine creative work from Thomas Walsh and Bryan Carbery, and Carbery later made it four from as many goal attempts after another excellent delivery from Thomas Walsh.
That score left Carlow 4-8 to 0-6 in front.
Wicklow did create a series of goal chances in the first half but had no idea how to finish them, and were restricted to 0-2 over the opening 35 minutes - a point from O'Gorman and a free from Jonathan Daniels.
CARLOW: 1 J Brennan; 2 T Smith; 3 M Brennan, 4 J Ryan; 5 J Hayden, 6 J Byrne, 7 B English; 8 P Walsh (0-1), 9 T Walsh (1-0); 10 B Carbery (1-1), 11 M Carpenter (0-2), 12 P Hickey (0-3, two frees); 13 A Kelly (1-0), 14 S Rea (1-2), 15 C Pender. Subs: 18 B Hannon for English (52 mins), 21 P Fitzgerald for Pender (56 mins).
WICKLOW: 1 R Daniels; 2 C Hyland, 3 D Power, 4 B Daly; 5 K Manning, 6 W Callaghan, 7 T Burke; 8 J Stafford (0-1), 20 K Kelly; 10 P Cronin (0-2), 11 L Glynn (0-1), 12 P Dalton; 13 T Gill (0-3, two frees), 14 W O'Gorman (0-1), 15 J Daniels (0-3, all frees). Subs: 18 P Earls for Dalton (30 mins), 22 G Foley (0-1) for Manning (43 mins), 21 G Duffy for Kelly (46 mins), 24 G Doyle for Callaghan (56 mins).
Referee: M Collins (Cork).
