Evening all and welcome along to our coverage of tonight’s EirGrid Leinster U21 football championship ties.

Tonight the action in the eastern province really kicks into gear for the first time in 2017. We get our first chance to have a look at last year’s finalists Dublin and Kildare.

That means there’s going to be some brilliant attacking prospects in the spotlight like Dublin duo Con O’Callaghan and Colm Basquel, and Kildare’s Ben McCormack.

Here’s what’s in store:

EirGrid Leinster U21FC

First Round
Wicklow v Louth, Abbotstown, 7.30pm

Quarter-finals
Westmeath v Dublin, St Loman’s, Mullingar, 7.30pm
Kildare v Longford, Hawkfield, 7.30pm
Offaly v Wexford, Gracefield, 7.30pm

Laois await the winners of Wicklow and Louth tonight after their first round tie was postponed last week due to an unplayable pitch in Baltinglass.

Here’s the starting sides in Mullingar.

More team news.

Three late Dublin changes. Cian Murphy, Sean Bolger and Stephen Smith into the starting team for Donal McIllgorm, Colm Basquel and Chris Sallier.

Game on in tonight’s matches.

Wexford 0-1 Offaly 0-0
Ian Carty nudges Wexford into an early lead.

Louth 0-1 Wicklow 0-1
Ross Nally brings Louth level in Abbottstown.

Westmeath 0-2 Dublin 0-0
Ten minutes gone in Mullingar and Westmeath already two points to the good.

Goal for Longford!

Longford 1-1 Kildare 0-0
5 mins – Nigel Rabbitt hits the net for Longford.

Westmeath 0-2 Dublin 0-2
10 mins – And now it’s all square with Chris Murphy and Con O’Callaghan on target for Dublin.

Goal for Dublin!

Dublin 1-2 Westmeath 0-2
11 mins – And Dessie Farrell’s side pounce to raise the first green flag of the game, Aaron Byrne managing to find the net.

A second goal for Longford!

Longford 2-1 Kildare 0-0
15 mins – Rabbitt finds the net again and they’re seven points clear.

Wexford 0-2 Offaly 0-2
19 mins – Carty on target again as Wexford draw level in Gracefield.

Longford 2-2 Kildare 0-0
16 mins – Uphill task now facing the home team in Hawkfield as Shane Kenny points to push Longford clear by eight.

Dublin 1-5 Westmeath 0-2
22 mins – O’Callaghan and Byrne points edge Dublin five clear.

Dublin 1-6 Westmeath 0-3
26 mins – Dublin’s advantage cut to six points, not long to go until the interval now.

Half-Time: Dublin 1-6 Westmeath 0-4

Half-Time: Offaly 0-2 Wexford 0-2

Half-Time: Louth 1-5 Wicklow 0-5

Ross Nally with that goal in the first half for Louth.

Half-Time: Longford 2-3 Kildare 0-1

Westmeath’s Shane Clavin and Jack Kearney with Cian Murphy of Dublin James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Back under way for the second-half action.

Goal for Offaly!

Offaly 1-2 Wexford 0-2
Jordan Hayes finds the net to give Offaly an early second-half boost.

Colm Basquel comes on at the break for Dublin.

Longford 2-3 Kildare 0-4
34 mins – Bright start to the second half for Kildare as they cut the deficit to five points.

Offaly 1-4 Wexford 0-2
39 mins – And now the home side have a five-point cushion in Gracefield.

Longford 2-3 Kildare 0-6
40 mins – Kildare right back in this now thanks to another point from Paddy Woodgate.

Dublin 1-7 Westmeath 0-5
43 mins – A free from O’Callaghan pushes that gap back out to five points in St Loman’s.

Westmeath's Liam O'Reilly and Dublin's Brian Howard. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

Louth 1-10 Wicklow 0-8
48 mins – Cathal Grogan on target from play and Louth are in pole position now.

Kildare 2-3 Longford 0-8
45 mins – A Cian Costigan point leaves Kildare now just a single score adrift.

Longford 2-4 Kildare 0-10
51 mins – A Conor Berry point from play brings Longford level, all to play for entering the finale.

Louth 1-11 Wicklow 0-9
59 mins – Ryan Burns pushes Louth five clear again.

Longford 2-5 Kildare 0-10
55 mins – And Berry points again to send Longford back ahead.

Dublin 1-9 Westmeath 0-5
52 mins – Dublin look to be in control in Mullingar.

Goal for Dublin!

Dublin 2-11 Westmeath 0-5
59 mins – Aaron Byrne with his second goal of the game and that seals Dublin’s victory.

Longford 2-6 Kildare 0-10
61 mins – Longford on the brink of victory as James Matthews notches a point.

Full-Time: Louth 1-13 Wicklow 0-9

Full-Time: Dublin 2-14 Westmeath 0-6

Full-Time: Longford 2-6 Kildare 0-10

Full-Time: Offaly 1-6 Wexford 0-6

So a recap on tonight’s results:

Here’s how the semi-final line-up is looking:

Wednesday 15 March
Dublin v Longford
Offaly v Laois/Louth

No confirmation yet on the date of the Laois-Louth quarter-final but it’s likely to be next Wednesday 8 March.