Leinster Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final

DUBLIN 4-25 WICKLOW 1-11

By Paul Keane at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise

All-Ireland title favourites Dublin are back on the Championship trail and displayed ominous intent in Portlaoise where they enjoyed a landslide Leinster SFC quarter-final win over Wicklow.

Jim Gavin's side were massive favourites to advance to a June 10 semi-final clash with Longford at Croke Park and duly obliged, firing four first-half goals.

Brian Fenton, Dean Rock, Ciaran Kilkenny and Con O'Callaghan grabbed those majors and Kilkenny in particular was excellent with a 1-7 contribution, all from play.

The only surprise was that Dublin didn't score any more goals in the second-half though they did add another dozen points.

There was a massive disparity between the teams in league terms with Dublin winning the spring competition and Wicklow finishing bottom of Division 4, and it played out on the day.

But Wicklow refused to throw in the towel and pinched a James Stafford goal as well as seven second-half points. They came into the game with nothing to lose after shocking Offaly to claim a rare Leinster championship win.

But even boss John Evans acknowledged that facing up to a Dublin side that's only lost once in Leinster in 13 years was a thankless task.

And from the early stages it was clear that it would be a long afternoon for the Garden County who leaked 2-7 before finally getting on the score-sheet themselves.

Paddy Andrews was a late addition to the Dublin lineup in place of John Small, a change that necessitated several positional changes.

Fenton got the goal siege underway after eight minutes and Rock added a second in the 15th minute when he palmed home from close range.

The third and fourth, from Kilkenny and O'Callaghan, came within seconds of each other approaching the break.

Midfielder James Stafford opened Wicklow's scoring and the powerful Rathnew man moved into full-forward then from where he pinched a 26th minute goal.

It was a typical Stafford goal as the big man rose up ahead of Stephen Cluxton to fist to the net.

He had a second opportunity late in the half but Cluxton saved on that occasion and Dublin responded with those two goals, leaving them 4-13 to 1-4 clear at the interval.

Wicklow needed a miracle in the second-half but it never arrived as Dublin ran in their full allocation of subs.

Conor McHugh and Colm Basquel both got on the scoresheet while there was game time for Eoin Murchan too.

Scorers for Dublin: Ciaran Kilkenny 1-7, Con O'Callaghan 1-3, Brian Fenton 1-3, Dean Rock 1-2 (2fs), Paddy Andrews 0-3, Conor McHugh 0-2 (1f), Brian Howard 0-1, Philly McMahon 0-1, Michael Darragh Macauley 0-1, Paul Mannion 0-1 (0-1 45), Colm Basquel 0-1.

Scorers for Wicklow: James Stafford 1-1, Theo Smyth 0-2, Darren Hayden 0-2, Mark Jackson 0-2 (2fs), Seanie Furlong 0-1 (0-1f), Rory Finn 0-1, Dean Healy 0-1, Mark Kenny 0-1.

DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; Eric Lowndes, Philly McMahon, Michael Fitzsimons; James McCarthy, Jonny Cooper, Brian Howard; Michael Darragh Macauley, Brian Fenton; Niall Scully, Ciaran Kilkenny, Con O'Callaghan; Dean Rock, Paul Mannion, Paddy Andrews.

Subs: Eoin Murchan for Fitzsimons (HT), Conor McHugh for Rock (h/t), Paul Flynn for Macauley (41), Darren Daly for Mannion (41), Colm Basquel for Andrews (48), Kevin McManamon for O'Callaghan (52).

WICKLOW: Mark Jackson; Eoin Murtagh, Ross O'Brien, Ciaran Hyland; John Crowe, Dean Healy, Saoirse Kearon; Rory Finn, James Stafford; Darren Hayden, Kevin Murphy, Theo Smyth; Seanie Furlong, John McGrath, Mark Kenny.

Subs: Cathal Magee for Murphy (h/t), Daragh Fitzgerald for McGrath (HT), Conor Healy for Kearon (50), Paul Merrigan for Crowe (53), Brendan Kennedy for Stafford (58), Daniel Keane for Smyth (68).

REFEREE: Ciaran Branagan (Down).