Carlow are planning another shock when they take on Wexford in the Leinster SFC semifinal after dumping Louth out of the championship in Portlaoise on Sunday by a score of 0-14 to 0-13.

A late Brendan Murphy point secured victory for the underdogs against the 14 man Wee County side, last season’s beaten Leinster finalists.

Manager Luke Dempsey enjoyed every minute of his first Championship success with his adopted county and vowed to put Wexford to the sword next time out.

“We have an excellent chance of causing another huge surprise against Wexford on June 26,” claimed Dempsey after the narrowest of wins.

“We will take this one step at a time now. Wexford’s results this year show that they are in phenomenal form, and their performance against Dublin in Croke Park last year shows that they are a very clinical side.

“It does not matter who we play against, whether it’s Dublin, Kildare or Wexford, because they are three excellent teams. It’s a matter now of just relishing Championship 2011 for Carlow and realizing that all the hard work of the past three years has come to fruition with the win over Louth.

“The scenes after the game were akin to winning a Leinster title. There were people crying with joy and that is really what the Championship is about.”

Match winner Murphy made his presence felt throughout the game.

“Brendan is a super footballer but he is only one cog in the wheel. The real hard work was done in the first half when our defense was excellent and we only conceded five points. We were delighted with that,” Dempsey said.
“In the end it was Brendan’s brilliant points that won the match for us, especially the sideline kick when we were three points down. It was a phenomenal effort from about 45 yards out. Brendan is a great footballer but it took a huge team effort.”

Louth boss Peter Fitzpatrick had no issues after his team’s shock defeat and a first half red card for defender Dessie Finnegan.

“To me I’ve no complaints at all. I thought it was a good clean game,” said Fitzpatrick. “I thought Dessie was very unlucky to get sent off but I’m not going to blame that for the defeat.

“We were three points up with 10 minutes to go. We had goal chances and missed them instead of taking our points.”