Kilkenny 0-10 Wexford 2-14
Wexford travelled to Nowlan Park and defeated Kilkenny in the Leinster U21 Hurling Championship for the second year in a row.
JJ Doyle’s side were impressive and were well worth their 10-point winning margin. Wexford always looked to have the measure of Kilkenny, but it wasn’t until Peter Sutton and Rhys Clarke hit the net that the contest was killed off.
Wexford led 0-5 to 0-1 with half-time approaching, Jack Guiney and Kevin Foley among their scorers in a dominant first 20 minutes. However, Kilkenny made it 0-6 to 0-3 at the interval, at a venue that had been hit during the evening by heavy showers.
The gap remained three points early in the second half, and Kilkenny got it down to two, at 0-9 to 0-7, following a well-struck ’65’ from Richie Reid.
Wexford restored the three-point lead quickly though, and then Peter Sutton’s goal on 53 minutes effectively ended the contest as it put Wexford 1-12 to 0-9 ahead.
A second goal followed a few minutes later from the impressive Rhys Clarke, and Wexford finished with a couple of points to wrap up a convincing victory.
Wexford will now face Offaly in the semi-final to be played on June 25th at Wexford Park.
WEXFORD: O O’Leary; G Foley, L Ryan, E Conroy; A Kenny (0-1), S O’Gorman, J O’Connor; A Nolan, C Devitt (0-2); J Guiney (0-3, two frees), P Doyle (0-1), K Foley (0-1); R Clarke (1-2), C McDonald (0-2), G Moore (0-2). Subs: P Sutton (1-0) for Doyle (37mins), J White for Foley (49 mins), C O’Leary for Devitt (60 mins).
KILKENNY: A Duggan; L Hickey, T Aylward, G Teehan; C O’Shea, R Lennon, E Morrissey; M Mansfield (0-2), O McGrath; R Reid (0-5, three frees, two 65s), H O’Neill (0-1), A Cleere; T Hanrahan, J Hayes, C Martin (0-1). Subs: C Bolger for Cleere (35 mins), W Brennan for Hanrahan (38 mins), D Burke for Hayes (43 mins), C Prendergast(0-1) for O’Neill (51 mins), S Donnelly for Martin (56 mins).
Referee: D Hughes (Carlow).
