Strong second half sees Kilkenny Under 20's book place in Leinster Final
Kilkenny 1-22 Dublin 2-13
Kilkenny booked their place in the Leinster Under-20 Hurling Championship Final after they had six points to spare over Dublin in an entertaining clash at Parnell Park on Wednesday evening.
A 1-10 tally from Patrick Lacey enabled the Cats to come out in top in the last four tie with the visitors producing a fine second half showing.
The Dicksboro player got the ball rolling with a goal after only six minutes but with Daniel O'Kelly showing well in front of the posts, Dublin were back level by the halfway mark of the opening period.
Points from Ed Lauhoff, Ed McDermott and Darragh Vereker saw the Cats finish the half strong but with George O'Toole bagging a goal for the Metropolitans five minutes from the interval, there was no seperating teams as they went into the break deadlocked at 1-9 apiece.
Henry Shefflin's Kilkenny side then all but sealed their place in the final when they scored seven points on the spin upon the resumption with Lacey, Greg Kelly and Jake Mullen all on target for the winners.
It was plain sailing from there to the end for the Noresiders with 10 different players getting on the scoresheet and while Dublin responded with an injury time goal via Luke Hayes, the job was already done as the Cats now go on to play Galway in the final next week.
Teams and Scorers
Kilkenny: Patrick Lacey 1-10 (0-6f); Ed Lauhoff, Kevin Buggy, Jake Mullen 0-2 each; Darragh Vereker, Jim Conlon, Jack Dollard, Greg Kelly, Ed McDermott, Ruarc Sweeney 0-1 apiece.
Dublin: Daniel O’Kelly 0-6 (1f, 1 ’65); George O’Toole 1-1; Luke Hayes 1-0; Aron Gargan 0-3; Jack Kennedy, James Norris, Tommy Cullen 0-1 apiece.
Kilkenny: Jake O’Doherty; Michael Ahern, Rory Garrett, Darragh Vereker; Jim Conlon, Jack Dollard, Mikey Rohan; David Barcoe, Ben Nevin; Anthony Clifford, Ed Lauhoff, Greg Kelly; Jake Mullen, Ed McDermott, Patrick Lacey.
Subs: Evan Murphy for Barcoe (half-time), Ollie O’Donovan for Kelly (50), Ruarc Sweeney for Lauhoff (53), Louis Raggett for Nevin (60).
Dublin: Sean O’Neill; Luke Mooney, Massimo Pappalardo, Conor Quinn; Cathal O’Flynn, Joe Sheppard, Tommy Cullen; Killian Costello, Finnian Donohoe; George O’Toole, Daniel O’Kelly, James Norris; Tom Higgins, Aron Gargan, Fionn Murphy.
Subs: Darragh Kilduff for Higgins (half-time), Luke Hayes for Norris (49), Jqck Kennedy for Murphy (53), William Wheatley for O’Flynn (56), Michael Tierney for Cullen (58).
Referee: Matthew Farrell (Offaly).