EirGrid LEinster GAA U20 Football Championship Round 1

KILDARE 1-15 LONGFORD 0-11
DUBLIN 1-15 WESTMEATH 0-5
LAOIS 3-8 CARLOW 0-10
LOUTH 1-11 OFFALY 2-6
WICKLOW 0-12 WEXFOD 1-7

Reigning EirGrid Leinster and All-Ireland U20 Football champions, Kildare, got the defence of their titles off to a winning start his evening with a seven point victory over Longford.

It was a testing first-round opener for the Lilywhites though, because Longford battled from the first minute to the last.

They showed a lot of quality in the first half in particular as skilful forwards like Paddy Moran and Caolan Lynch heloped them into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead by the 27th minute.

A Kildare team featuring seven players who played in last year's All-Ireland Final came on strong before half-time though as points from Ryan Sinkey, James Harris, and Niall Dolan helped them into a two-point lead by the break.

There was little between the teams in the third quarter but then Kildare struck for the vital score of the match when Ross Harris palmed a high delivery from Sinkey to the back of the net.

Kildare never looked like losing it from there, but Longford take plenty of credit in defeat.

The other stand-out performance from tonight's first round ties was Dublin's comfortable 1-15 to 0-6 win over Westmeath.

The writing was on the wall for the Lake County early in the game when Dublin swept into a 0-5 to no-score lead.

A Karl Flynn goal further emphasised Dublin's superiority, and by half-time they were 1-9 to 0-2 in front.

They had the luxury of taking their foot off the gas in the second-half and still won pulling up.

In tonight's other matches, Louth resisted a strong second-half comeback from Offaly to edge out the Faithful County by 1-11 to 2-6; corner-forward Jamie O'Brien was the main man for Laois as they defeated Carlow by 3-8 to 0-10; while late points by James Boland and Eanna Nolan helped Wicklow to a 0-12 to 1-7 win over Wexford.