In what was a tense affair throughout, Co Carlow held on for a narrow but nonetheless deserved two point victory, the foundation of which was laid by their pack. Two Mark Buckley tries had them in front 13-6 at the end of the first quarter but the home side responded with tries from John Downey and Brendan Crowley. Influential number eight Andy Melville then crashed over for a try before Fergal Campion added three points to leave Bective trailing 23-18 at the break. Bective shaded matters in the second half from a scoring point of view but were not able to break down a well organised Co Carlow defence.