KILKENNY 1-20 DUBLIN 0-10
Kilkenny captured their 54th Leinster minor hurling title in comfortable fashion in Sunday’s final at Croke Park.
In a clash with never really exploded to live the Cats carried a greater threat up front with Ger Aylward showing good accuracy from open play whether position at centre-forward or inside in the full-forward line.
An 18th minute goal from Thomas O’Hanrahan after Dublin had lost possession in the middle of the park gave Kilkenny all the breathing space they needed and by the break had as good as the win secured as they held a commanding 1-11 to 0-4 lead.
Glenn Whelan did guarantee the Dubs a fair degree of possession but the Dublin attack failed to combine as a unit and were well contained by the Kilkenny rearguard.
Dublin battled gamely in the second half with subs Brian McCarthy and Cillian Moffat doing well but they really needed an early goal or flurry of points to ignite a fightback. A goal almost came in the 48th minute but Dean Flood’s underhit shot was cleared off the line by corner-back Jason Corcoran.
Despite defeat Dublin still progress to the All-Ireland MHC quarter-final.
SCORERS – Kilkenny: J Power 0-8 (0-5f, 0-2 ‘65’), G Aylward 0-5, K Kelly 0-3, T O’Hanrahan 1-0, P Walsh 0-2, E McGrath, O Walsh 0-1 each. Dublin: J Hetherton 0-6 (0-5f), C Kilkenny 0-2, G Whelan, D Flood 0-1 each.
KILKENNY – D Walsh; J Corcoran, W Phelan, B Kennedy; P O’Carroll, L Harney, E McGrath; K Kelly, O Walsh; C Buckley, G Aylward, P Walsh; M Brennan, J Power, T O’Hanrahan. Subs P Delaney for Brennan (26), P Vickery for O’Hanrahan (40), D Waugh for P Walsh (53), S Farrell for O Walsh (55).
DUBLIN – E Dillon; C Murphy, E McKenna, S McClelland; C Crummey, D Sutcliffe, B Quinn; D Kelly, F Heavey; G Whelan, N Maguire, D Forde; D Flood, C Kilkenny, J Hetherton. Subs: C Moffatt for Quinn (19), A Clabby for Maguire (ht), C Costello for Heavey (44), B McCarthy for Murphy (44), D Mulligan for Kilkenny (57).
REF – A Lagrue (Kildare).
