Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Football Championship

Group 1

Kildare 0-18 Laois 0-10

Group 2

Dublin 4-19 Westmeath 2-12

Meath 2-9 Louth 1-7

Group 3

Wicklow 3-11 Carlow 2-6

By Paul Keane

Perhaps inspired by the county's successful U-20 team, Kildare's minor footballers came from behind with a powerful second-half performance to overcome Laois and grab a provincial semi-final place.

With Dublin already through to Leinster's last four, regardless of their big win over Westmeath elsewhere, the real intrigue was in Portlaoise where Kildare came from a point down at half-time to beat Laois 0-18 to 0-10.

Kildare's third consecutive win means they have topped Group 1 though Laois could have grabbed top spot themselves with a win and were nicely placed at half-time.

They led 0-7 to 0-6 at that stage with Darren Brennan and Ennae Byrne shooting three points each in that period.

A day after Kildare's impressive provincial U-20 success, the Lilywhite minors dominated the second-half and regained the lead with four points immediately after the restart, Cathal Moore shooting two of those.

They then put themselves in a winning position with five unanswered points from Jack McCabe, Harry Redmond, Moore, Tadhg Donlon and Ben Ryan.

All Laois could muster in the second-half was three points from James Dunne, Eoin Johnson and Fionn McEvoy.

Laois will await the outcome of tomorrow evening's remaining Group 1 game between Offaly and Longford to see where they finish in the Group 1 table.

The picture is clearer in Group 2 with Dublin finishing top on six points after beating Westmeath 4-19 to 2-12.

Paddy Curry and Lenny Cahill struck a brace of goals each to help maintain Dublin's perfect record ahead of a semi-final outing.

Meath beat Louth by 2-9 to 1-7 thanks to late goals from Liam Jennings and Ben Corkery, tying up second position in Group 2 for the Royals and a quarter-final place.

Laois have finished third and are through to a preliminary quarter-final.

Meanwhile, in the three-team Group 3, Wicklow also conjured a couple of late goals to beat Carlow 3-11 to 2-6 and take top spot.

Conor Broderick and Thomas Kelly struck those late goals while Patrick Small hit the Garden County's opening goal in the first-half.

Wicklow, along with second placed Wexford, have advanced from Group 3 to the preliminary quarter-finals.