Dunshaughlin ... 1-11 Rathvilly ... 0-2 Dunshaughlin, the Meath champions for the past three years, sent out a strong message that they are serious contenders for this year's Leinster club title when they overpowered Carlow side Rathvilly in the quarter-final at Dr Cullen Park, Carlow yesterday.

In a fine overall performance midfielder Niall Kelly stood out. He scored two points and was deservedly named man-of-the-match.

Kelly was highly influential as the visitors built up a 1-6 to 0-2 interval lead, with the goal coming in the 25th minute from Ray Moloney after he had latched on to a long delivery from midfielder Dermot Kealy.

Rathvilly's paltry tally of two points came in the opening half, from David Nolan and Mark Curran, as they failed to score in the second half.

This victory sets up Dunshaughlin for a semi-final meeting against defending Leinster champions Rathnew of Wicklow or new Dublin champions UCD, who meet next weekend.

DUNSHAUGHLIN: R Gogan; D Tongue, K McTigue, C Byrne; R Yore, M McHale, Denis Kealy; N Kelly (0-2), Dermot Kealy; B Kealy (0-1), R Moloney (1-1), T Dowd (0-4); R Kealy (0-1), D Burke (0-1), D Crummins. Subs: F Gogan for Dermot Kealy, S Claire for B Kealy, K Kealy for Tongue, K Moyles for Byrne, J Crummins (0-1) for Kelly.

RATHVILLY: A Doyle; K Byrne, C Doyle, J Bolger; P Molloy, J Keogh, C Cole; K Doyle, S Kavanagh; JJ Smith, T Bolger, D O'Donoghue; D Nolan (0-1), M Curran (0-1), F Kelly. Subs: D O'Brien for Kelly, WJ Burke for T Bolger, S Murphy for Curran.

Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).