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Wicklow tore through the book of forms to firmly place himself in the Division 4 promotion picture with an impressive 7-11 to 0-07 victory over Antrim at Aughrim in the Allianz Football League.
The visitors came into the game with their own destiny in their hands after an impressive victory over the league leaders Limerick in March, but were totally outmaneuvered by an unbridled team from Wicklow.
Antrim took the lead in the third minute when Kevin Quinn split the spots after good work from Paddy McBride and Dermot McAleese. It turned out to be his only first-half score and Wicklow tied it when midfielder O’Toole fired after a good set-up play.
Then, the goals came pouring in for the locals as they took full control of the proceedings.
The first came with a penalty when referee Johnny Hickey ruled that goalkeeper Oisin Kerr had dropped David Devereux and Seanie Furlong passed the ball over Kerr to give his team a 1-01 lead to 0-01 in 10 minutes. .
Just from a series of poor goals, Wicklow would have extended his lead even further, but his second goal came in the 25th minute when an excellent pass from Eoin Darcy put O’Toole on goal and passed the ball to Kerr to get ahead of the hosts six. .
Just under the half-hour mark, Wicklow pocketed his third when Conor Byrne scored on a rebound after Kevin O’Boyle blocked his first shot on goal.
Things went from bad to worse for the Saffrons when center forward Colum Duffin was shown a black card for a third-man tackle, while Wicklow center back Niall Donnelly was also punished for the sin just before halftime when Wicklow took a 3-05 for 0-01 leads to break.
The home side quickly drifted into the second half when the impressive Darcy fired from a tight angle and Antrim’s scoring drought ended when Tomas McCann fired after a great inside pass from Conor Murray.
However, Lenny Harbinson’s team couldn’t find the goals they needed to fight their way back into contention when Murray tapped the ball shortly after Paddy McBride had passed a ball in the face of the goal. McBride then slammed a shot off the crossbar minutes later before Wicklow scored his fourth goal.
O’Toole and Mark Kenny combined to put Furlong in goal and the corner forward finished with poise.
McBride and backup Paddy Cunningham scored points on the other end of Antrim, but Wicklow was relentless until the end.
Furlong made a disinterested pass to replace Pat Burke, who hit the ball into the top corner of the net to put Wicklow 5-09 to 0-06 ahead, while Antrim captain Declan Lynch picked up a black card to five minutes from the end.
Late goals from Darcy and substitute Gearoid Murphy compounded Antrim’s woes and delivered an easy 25-point victory for Davy Burke’s men.
Wicklow: M Jackson (0-01, 0-01f); P. O’Keane (0-01), J Snell, E Murtagh; A Maher, N Donnelly, D Devereux; P O’Toole (1-01), D Healy (0-01); D Keane, M Kenny (0-01), D Hayden; E Darcy (1-02, 0-01f), C Byrne (1-01), S Furlong (2-01, 1-00 pen, 0-01f).
Subs: R Finn (0-02) for D Keane (26mins), S Kearon for Donnelly (55mins), P Burke (1-00) for Devereux (61mins) G Murphy (1-00) for O’Keane (67mins).
Antrim: Or Kerr; P. Gallagher, R. Johnston, K. O’Boyle; D Lynch, J McAuley, P Healy; M Sweeney, M Jordan; K Quinn (0-01), C Duffin, D McAleese (0-01), T McCann (0-02, 0-01f); C Murray, P McBride (0-02).
Subs: P McCormick for Healy (33mins), N Delargy for Jordan (33mins), E Nagle for Johnston (HT), A Loughran for Murray (45mins), P Cunningham (0-01) for McCann (52mins).
Referee: J Hickey (Carlow).
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