Kilkenny dominate second half to progress to provincial final

Sun, 12th June 2016

KILKENNY 1-25 DUBLIN 0-16

Dublin will have to take their chances in the SHC qualifiers after being outclassed by Kilkenny in the second half of Saturday night's Leinster SHC semi-final at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise.

There was only a point between the sides at half-time with the Cats holding a 0-12 to 0-11 advantage after a very well contested opening 35 minutes in front of a crowd of 10,419.

Kilkenny held a four-point lead with the break approaching but Dublin finished the half the stronger with points form Daire Plunkett, Eamonn Dillon and a David Treacy free.

However, from the restart Kilkenny took total control of the game and a scoring blitz of 1-8 without reply ended any hopes Ger Cunningham's men had of progressing to the provincial final (against Galway or Offaly).

The only goal of the contest came in the 47th minute when Jonjo Farrell angled a powerful drive past Conor Dooley and if the game was fading away from the Dubs at that stage it was gone from sight now with Kilkenny 1-20 to 0-11 clear.

The first half was an entirely different story as Dublin battled every inch of the way with the freetaking of David Treacy keeping Dublin very much in contact - the Cuala man also struck one superb point from play from the right wing.

Kilkenny did lead by four points on a couple of occasions but Dublin reeled them in and entered the break in a great position.

SCORERS - Kilkenny: TJ Reid 0-10 (0-7f, 0-1 ‘65’), J Farrell 1-5, M Fennelly, W Walsh, C Buckley 0-2 each, C Fennelly, P Walsh, L Ryan, C Fogarty.Dublin: D Treacy 0-11 (0-10f), D O’Callaghan 0-2, D Plunkett, E Dillon, P Ryan 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Murphy, J Holden, R Lennon; P Walsh, K Joyce, C Buckley; C Fogarty, L Ryan; W Walsh, M Fennelly, TJ Reid; JJ Farrell, C Fennelly, E Larkin.Subs: L Blanchfield for Larkin (51), K Kelly for Ryan (57), D Cody for M Fennelly (65).

DUBLIN: C Dooley;E O’Donnell, C O’Callaghan, O Gough; S Barrett, L Rushe, C Crummey; D O’Connell, J McCaffrey; D Plunkett, N McMorrow, R O’Dwyer; E Dillon, D O’Callaghan, D Treacy.Subs: P Ryan for O’Dwyer (ht), O O’Rorke for McMorrow (45), N Corcoran for Gough (49), S Treacy for Barrett (57), C Bennett for O’Callaghan (69).

REF: B Gavin (Offaly).