Minor hurlers come up short against Cats

Sun, 6th July 2014

KILKENNY 2-19 DUBLIN 2-10

The Cats snagged their 55th Leinster MHC title when they became the deserved victors over Dublin in Sunday's Electric Ireland provincial final at Croke Park.

When the counties met earlier in this Leinster campaign, the Dubs prevailed by 11 points but there was no arguing with who was the better side at the business end of the provincial campaign. Liam Blanchfield and Alan Murphy tormented the Dublin defence as the Cats held the upper hand once they settled in the opening half.

The early signals were decent from a Dublin perspective but they failed to combine to telling effect and despite Seán Ryan's well taken goal, on the second attempt, they failed to put Kilkenny under sustained pressure. Rian McBride toiled selflessly in the middle of the field but Kilkenny led 1-9 to 1-5 at the break and in the second half always looked comfortable. Dublin only led once after Seán Grey opened the scoring before Alan Murphy and Ronan Corcoran replied with points for the defending provincial champions.

The influential Blanchfield grabbed the first goal in the 10th minute. Murphy extended the Cats' advantage to 1-3 to 0-1 before Darren Brennan produced a great save to deny Dublin a goal in the 16th minute. Murphy scored the opening three points of the second half as the Cats began to really flex their muscles and at one stage they held a 2-16 to 1-6 lead before Dublin rallied with sub Eoin O Conghaile grabbed a late consolation goal for Dublin.

SCORERS – Kilkenny:

A Murphy 0-9 (0-4f, 0-1 ’65’), L Blanchfield 2-3, S Morrissey, R Corcoran 0-2, C Browne, R Butler, J Walsh 0-1 each. Dublin: E Ó Conghaile 1-2, S Ryan 1-0, S Grey 0-3 (3f), C Bennett 0-2 (2f), C O’Callaghan, R McBride, E McHugh 0-1 each.

KILKENNY:

D Brennan; C McGrath, C Delaney, C Doheny; D Joyce, J Cleere, P Lyng; C Browne, L Scanlon; S Morrissey, R Butler, B Ryan; A Murphy, L Blanchfield, R Corcoran. Subs: E Kenny for Ryan (ht), J Walsh for Butler (52), L Hennessy for Corcoran (59).

DUBLIN:

J Treacy; M McCallion, S Barrett, D Butler; S Howard, J Malone, P O’Dea; R McBride, D Burke; S Grey, E McHugh, E Conroy; S Ryan, C O’Callaghan, C Bennett. Subs: C O’Sullivan for O’Dea and T Fox for Barrett (27), C Brady for Burke (40), E Ó Conghaile for Grey (43), F Whitely for Butler (55).