Carlow enjoyed a huge opening day victory as they overcame Division 4 newcomers Antrim at Portglenone.
The hosts opened the scoring the Pat Shivers before Niall Burns announced his return to the panel with a great score.
Despite starting on the back foot, Carlow would hit back with two quick-fire goals to take control.
Niall Roche's 11th-minute goal was quickly followed by a second green flag.
The away side retained the possession from the Antrim kick-out and after a scuffle close to goal, Conor Doyle was impeded and a penalty was awarded.
Christopher Blake made no mistake as he drilled his spot-kick into the top-right corner before tacking on a few extra points from play.
The Saffrons fought back with Mark Jordan’s driving run giving Antrim the boost they needed.
Niall Burns struck a great two-pointer and Oisin Doherty’s score saw Carlow’s lead whittled down to the bare minimum at the interval.
Eoghan McCabe and Bambrick exchanged points, and the former causing real trouble for the Antrim defence, while Conor Hutton’s orange flag increased the Carlow lead to seven points.
Doherty gave Antrim hope, but in injury-time Ronan Quinn met Paddy McBride’s floated delivery to punch to the back of the net.
Paddy McDonnell claimed the final score of the game to ensure the visitors won by four.
Antrim: John McNabb; Kavan Keenan, Kevin McCann, Eunan Walsh; Eoghan McCabe 0-02, John Finnegan, Marc Jordan 0-01; Paddy McAleer 0-01, John Carron; Paddy McBride, Conor Small, Seán O’Neill; Pat Shivers 0-04 (0-01f), Niall Burns 0-04 (0-02f, 1 tpf), Oisin Doherty 0-02.
Subs: Dominic McEnhill on for Conor Small, Kevin Small on for John Carron, Ronan Quinn 0-01 on for Sean O’Neill, Ryan McQuillan on for Paddy McBride, Tomas McCann 0-01 on for Kevin McCann
Carlow: Ben McCarron; Colin Byrne, Dara Curran, Lee Moore; Niall Roche 1-00, Mark Furey, Padraig Bolger 0-01; Eoghan Ruth, Conor Doyle 0-03 (0-01 tp); Paddy McDonnell 0-01, Colm Hutton 0-02 (0-01 tp), Mikey Bambrick 0-01; Conor Crowley 0-02, Christopher Blake 1-03 (1 tpf, 1-00 pen), Ross Dunphy 0-01
Subs: Tadgh Roche on for Mikey Bambrick, Adam Burgess on for Eoghan Ruth, Shane Clarke on for Padraig Bolger, Liam Gavin on for Conor Crowley, Aaron Amond on for Ross Dunphy
Referee: Andrew Smith
