Wicklow produced a strong display at home in Aughrim to defeat London in what was a massive game for either side's promotion hopes.
Wicklow played with the aid of the breeze in the first half, which they used to collect an 11-point lead, which London could not pull back.
Scores came swiftly and often in the opening stages as John Paul Nolan opened Wicklow's account with a point minutes in and only seconds before centre back Conal Gallagher did the same for London. The first green flag also came early in the game as Wicklow began to take over the middle third.
As soon as Dean Healy latched onto a break on the fifth minute from an Andrew Walsh kickout, trouble was spelt for London as Healy found Eoin Darcy inside unmarked, who dished a pass to Kevin Quinn, who found the net.
The lively Shay Rafter landed two points in response - one off his left and one a fisted effort - as London showed they posed a serious threat up top. However, Wicklow were forcing turnovers all over the field and outscored their opponents four points to two in a good spell for the Garden County before they pulled further ahead.
Two three-man breaches in a row cost London further as Mark Jackson landed two of his three first-half two-pointers.
To close the half, Wicklow finished well, landing points from Liam O’Neill, John Paul Nolan and Eoin Darcy to efforts from Joe McGill and Ciran Driver, leaving the half-time score 1-15 to 0-07
In the second period, London looked to utilise the breeze and land two-point efforts, which they looked more than capable of, however they were guilty of wides from well-worked opportunities.
By the time London’s Shay Rafter landed his first two-pointer of the day, Wicklow’s John Paul Nolan, Kevin Quin and Cillian McDonald had all found scores while only James Davis could find a point for the visitors in that spell.
London were building momentum at different stages, but wides proved energy suckers while Wicklow did well to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Joe Prendergast’s introduction on 40 minutes proved important as he began his scoring burst of three points almost immediately after his introduction, following an Eoin Darcy point as Wicklow began to pull out of sight.
London were unlucky with a goal chance midway through the half as Michael O’Reilly fisted just over the head of Joe McGill in what would have been an open net if the play had gone to hand.
From here, however, the game fell into a lull as both sides traded scores with Ciran Driver and James Davis finishing strongly for the visitors with a point each.
With time almost up substitute Sean Murphy broke through the London defence and dished off to Eoin Darcy, who rounded keeper Andrew Walsh and unleashed a shot that was stopped by full back Matt Moynihan on the line before Murphy parried the rebound home.
Up the other end, captain Liam Gallagher turned and fired a monster two-pointer as London showed their quality to finish the game on a high.
Wicklow: Mark Jackson (0-6, 3tpf); Cian Deering, Craig Maguire, Tom Moran; Matt Nolan, Malachy Stone, Darragh Fee; Dean Healy, Jack Hardy; John Paul Nolan (0-03), Padraig O’Toole (0-01), Kevin Quinn (1-04, 1tp); Cillian McDonald (0-01), Liam O’Neill (0-01), Eoin Darcy (0-6, 2f).
Subs Joe Prendergast (0-03) for Cillian McDonald (40), Sean Murphy (1-00) for John Paul Nolan (40), Jack Kirwan for Liam O’Neill (56), Eoin Murtagh for Craig Maguire (62), Gavin Fogarty for Cian Deering (64).
London: Andrew Walsh; Stephen Henry, Matt Moynihan, Sean O’Donoghue, Conor Coggin, Conall Gallagher (0-01), Conor O’Donohue; Liam Gallagher (0-02 1tp), Joshua Obahor; James Davis (0-03), Ciaran Driver (0-02), Dan Clarke; Michael O’Reilly, Shay Rafter (0-05, tp), Joe McGill (0-03, 1f, 1 45).
Subs: Tighe Barry for Conor Goggin (45), Nathan Feeney for Dan Clarke (50), Mar Friel for Conal Gallagher (59), Liam Murphy for Joshua Obahor (59), George Durrant for Stepehen Henry (63).
