Minors hurlers edged out in thrilling Leinster decider

Sun, 5th July 2015

KILKENNY 1-17 DUBLIN 1-15

Down but not out. Kilkenny put in a spring finish to reel in and edge out Dublin in this exciting Electric Ireland Leinster MHC final at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.

Johny McGuirk’s lads moved into a two-point lead with the finish line in sight but inside the concluding four minutes Kilkenny held their never with the winning scores coming from subs Conor Hennessy and Edmund Delaney.

Dublin have recovered from the concession of a sixth minute goal from Tadhg O’Dwyer but the freetaking of Matthew Oliver andFergal Whitely score from play brought Dublin back into the contest.

Oliver continued to keep the scoreboard ticking from placed balls but points from John Donnelly and Andy Gaffney gave the reigning Leinster and All-Ireland champions a 1-7 to 0-8 half-time lead.

Half-time sub Alex Considine gave Dublin the perfect restart with a goal.

With 15minutes remaining points from Eoghan Conroy and Oliver had the Dubs three points clear.

But back came the Cats to draw level before Oliver and Considine edged the Dubs two clear going into the final minutes.

However, it was then Kilkenny came up with the winning scores to secure the Hanrahan Cup once again.

SCORERS - Kilkenny: A Gaffney 0-5 (0-5f), R Leahy 0-4 (0-2f), T O’Dwyer 1-0, J Donnelly, E Delaney 0-2 each, J Connolly, D O’Connor, J Cuddihy, C Hennessy 0-1 each. Dublin: M Oliver 0-10 (0-9f, 0-1 ‘65’), A Considine 1-1, E Conroy 0-2, F Whitely, D Burke 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: S Murphy; M Cody, T Walsh, C McGrath; D Mullen, D Joyce, C Doheny; R Leahy, J Connolly; D O’Connor, T O’Dwyer, J Donnelly; A Gaffney, J Cuddihy, N Walsh. Subs: E Delaney for N Walsh (42), C Hennessy for Gaffney (47), B Sheehan for Donnelly (53).

DUBLIN: E Skelly; C Hendricken, C Brady, D Butler; E Foley, P Smyth, D Butler; M Oliver, C Sammon; E Conroy, M Maguire, F Whitely; E Dunne, D Burke, C Burke. Subs: C O’Sullivan for Brady (30), A Considine for C Burke (ht), A Mellett for Maguire (41), C Dowling for Sammon (49), D Gray for Butler (58).

REF: M Murtagh (Westmeath).