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WICKLOW made it two wins from two and locked down their spot in the knockout stages on Saturday, when goals in either half from Andy O’Brien and Daniel Staunton gave them a six-point victory over Roscommon at Waldron Park in Athleague.

O’Brien’s penalty in the closing stages of the first-half appeared to set Wicklow up for victory, as they took a 1-8 to 0-10 lead into the dressing room after 35 minutes of playing into a strong breeze.

The St Patrick’s player, however, was shown a second yellow card by referee Nathan Wall for a high tackle on Kerrill Hardiman and Roscommon responded with some strong hurling in the middle third.

But the Leinster county’s half-back line held firm, restricting Roscommon to just six points — four of which came from Daniel Glynn dead balls.

As the home side pushed forward, holes were left in their defence and with just over 10 minutes to play Wicklow struck a killer blow. George O’Brien slalomed around Pat Nolan to create an overlap and when he found Daniel Staunton the Glenealy man shot into the top corner to put five points between the sides.

Mikey Lee and Christy Moorehouse fired over late points to add further gloss to the scoreline, and both sides finished with 14 men after Jason Kilkenny’s injury-time dismissal, also for a second bookable offence.

SCORERS — Wicklow: A O’Brien 1-4 (1-0 pen, 2 ‘65s, 1f), M Lee 0-4 (1f), D Staunton 1-0, PJ Nolan, R Keddy,C Moorehouse (1f) 0-2 each,E Kearns, G O’Brien 0-1 each. Roscommon: D Glynn 0-10 (5f, 1 ’65), M Byrne, S Curley (sideline), E Flanagan, K Hardiman, W Boyle, N Connaughton 0-1 each.

WICKLOW – R Fitzgerald 7; P Keane 7, W Kavanagh 6, M O’Brien 6; G Byrne 6, J Henderson 8, E Kearns 8; R Keddy 8, D Staunton 7; PJ Nolan 8, A Byrne 6, C Moorehouse 7; G O’Brien 7, A O’Brien 6, M Lee 8. Subs: P Doyle for Byrne (42), E McCormack (too late for rating) for Moorehouse (68), B Cuddihy for G Byrne (70), J Byrne for G O’Brien (70+2) ROSCOMMON – J Keane 6; A Moore 8, J Kilkenny 6, P Nolan 5; H Rooney 7, M Byrne 8, E Flanagan 7; D Heavey 6, S Curley 6; D Glynn 7, C Egan 5, C Kelly 7; C Kenny 5, N Connaughton 7, K Hardiman 6. Subs: R Fallon 7 for Egan (30), W Boyle 7 for Kenny (h-t), Kenny for Moore (56, blood), J Murray for Heavey (70+1) REF – N Wall (Cork)