Leinster Final spot on the line in Kilkenny minors repeat clash with Dublin

There will be very familiar opponents for the Kilkenny minor hurlers this weekend as they take on Dublin for the second time in only a couple of weeks.

The Leinster semi-final is fixed for UPMC Nowlan Park this Saturday afternoon with Niall Bergin’s team looking to continue their faultless start to the campaign.

Unlike the under-20 competition, which is strictly knockout, the young Kilkenny side will be in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final even if the result doesn’t go their way but all eyes will be set on victory as the Cats look to retain the provincial crown they won 12 months ago.

The two counties met in O’Toole Park in Crumlin only two weeks ago with star forwards Jake Mullen and Ollie O’Donovan netting the goals in a 2-25 to 0-18 victory that made it three wins from three at the end of the round-robin series for the Noresiders.

Kilkenny were already assured of a Leinster semi-final spot prior to that game so the Cats also tried out a couple of players including Cian Dermody, Adam Maher and Sean Hanrahan and still won rather convincingly so they’ll be big favourites ahead of the rematch in Nowlan Park on Saturday.

Crucially Kilkenny had a week off last weekend and that will be a huge benefit to them as this will be Dublin’s fifth successive week on the road.

The Dubs will come to Noreside with a pep in their step all the same after cruising to a huge victory over Westmeath in the Leinster quarter-final last Saturday.

Dublin, beaten by Kilkenny in last year's Leinster final, lost all three of their Tier One group games so were desperate to impress and had the quarter-final almost wrapped up by half-time.

They took off in the second quarter of the game when Rory Flannery, Sean Culleton and Conaill O’Sullivan all netted to help the visitors to lead by 3-9 to 0-6 at the interval.

Westmeath had started well and were 0-4 to 0-2 ahead at the quarter hour mark before being heavily outscored.

The Lake County had won all four of their Tier Two Group Two games, and then dispatched Carlow in a preliminary quarter-final last weekend, so came into this one with strong momentum but they were very much outclassed by the Metropolitans who added on four more second half goals.

Sean Culleton netted a hat-trick against Westmeath but he was well restricted in the previous meeting with Kilkenny as free-taker Rory Flannery did most of the damage on the scoreboard.

On all known form, Kilkenny look to hold the aces and as well as Ollie O’Donovan and Jake Mullen’s obvious threat, there is also the likes of Eoin Brennan, Kevin Buggy and Cian Byrne who all contribute to a flowing attack that has registered big scores in the three games to date.

With the pacy Oisin Henderson as well as captain Larry Phelan manning the defence, a Leinster final spot looks within reach for a side that look to be going from strength to strength.

The other semi-final sees Wexford meet Galway on Sunday with all four Tier One counties making up the final quartet ahead of the final the weekend after next.