Carlow blasted defending champions Wicklow out of the Leinster special under-21 hurling championship with four decisive goals in their semi-final at Aughrim on Saturday.

Wicklow made a whirlwind start to the game, shaping up, it seemed, for an easy victory in the first six minutes as they jumped into a 1-2 to 0-0 lead.

But Carlow found it comparatively easy to pierce the Wicklow cover, once corner forward Adrian Corcoran had shown the way when he finished a Sean McMahon line ball to the net from the edge of the square.

Full-forward Michael Slye added two further goals on either side of half-time which knocked the wind out of Wicklow's sails just when they were forging ahead once more and in the last minute substitute Sean Gahan added the fourth goal to put the seal on this five-points victory.