Leinster MFC/Wicklow 3-11 Longford 1-7: Wicklow's minor footballers defeated Longford at Portlaoise on Saturday to set up an attractive Leinster Championship quarter-final date with Offaly.

This was a reversal of the result of the previous week at Longford when the home side beat Wicklow by six points, 1-17 to 1-11.

But at the second time of asking, Wicklow upped their performance considerably.

They took complete control with a storming second half display which proved too much for Longford.

Wicklow also enjoyed a morale-boosting start against the wind, and two early goals by Paddy Byrne and star forward Ray Halloran saw them race into a 2-3 to 0-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

But Longford produced a good finish to the opening half and the sides were tied at 2-3 to 1-6 at the break.

Longford went ahead immediately after the restart when their livewire full forward Kieran Gill scored a point. But from there on it was all Wicklow, as they were powered to victory by a storming midfield display from team captain, Michael English.

After their encouraging early point from Gill, Longford then failed to manage another score in the second half.

SCORERS: Wicklow: R Halloran (1-4), P Byrne (1-3), D Hayden (1-0), C Doyle, H Mangan, M English R Ryan (0-1 each).

LONGFORD: K Gill (1-4), S Merrigan, A Lynch, D McGoldrick.