Wicklow were never troubled by neighbours Carlow in this first round match, played in bad conditions at Ashford yesterday.
A goal in the 25th minute, boxed home by Keith Burke from a Conor Flannery cross, helped the home side to a 1-5 to 0-3 lead at half-time.
One minute into the second half, Flannery again fed the ball inside to Burke and the wing forward slotted it home neatly for Wicklow's second goal and the game was over as a contest.
Carlow's goal, scored by Patrick Walsh, came five minutes from the end and did not more than put a better look on the scoreboard.
The man of the match was undoubtedly Wicklow wing forward Tony Hannon, who apart from scoring seven good points, also got through a huge mountain of work around the field.
Barry Sheehan had the opening point for Wicklow in the first minute and Alan O'Brien brought Carlow level on five minutes, the only time that Carlow enjoyed parity with their opponents over the hour.
Wicklow will now fancy their chances of making the Leinster semi-finals as they play Kilkenny in the next round on Saturday.
Despite their comprehensive beating, Carlow suprisingly won the midfield battle, where dual star Thomas Walsh had a great game.
Fourteen-man Westmeath staged a late second half rally to beat Roscommon at Athleague in a rousing Division Two National Hurling League fixture. The home side had a disastrous start, conceding two goals in the opening two minutes. They recovered somewhat and the visitors led 2-4 to 0-5 at the break.
However, just before half-time, Westmeath were reduced to 14 men when centre forward John Gavigan was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Westmeath looked a beaten side 12 minutes into the second half, at which stage the home side led by three points after a Ray Mulry goal. However, Westmeath finished the stronger and after substitute Alan Mangan brought them level 12 minutes from full-time, Vincent Bateman joined the attack to score their third goal, followed four minutes later by a Barry Kennedy goal for a hard-earned win.
WICKLOW: B Behan; L Glynn, K Foley, B Daly; J Mulryan, C Twoomey, D O hAnnaidh; D Dillon, G Doran; K Burke (2-0), B Sheehan (0-2), T Hannon (0-7); C Flannery (0-3), T O'Donnell (0- 1), D Jackman (0-1). Subs: P Moynihan (0-1) for G Doran; B Hickey for K Burke; T McKeown for L Glynn.
CARLOW: P Butler; D Power, L Osborne, A Kelly; D Farrell, C McCarthy, B Hennessy; T Walsh, D Byrne; C Cole, J Hickey, A O'Brien (0-4); A Hickey, P Walsh (1-0), K Lacey. Subs: K Doyle, for A Hickey; G Morrissey for Cole; W Power for J Hickey; D Walker for D Byrne.
Referee: Pat O'Toole (Longford).
