Kilkenny 2-19: C Carter 0-7, B McEvoy 0-4, H Shefflin 0-4, three frees, one 65, DJ Carey 1-0, E Brennan 1-0, C Brennan 0-2, J Hoyne 0-1, S Grehan 0-1.
Wexford 0-12: P Codd 0-5, four frees, D Stamp 0-2, L Murphy 0-1, B Goff 0-1, T Kelly 0-1, M Jordan 0-1, R Quigley 0-1.
Referee: P O'Connor Limerick
Attendance: 41,146
Team captain Denis Byrne accepted the O'Keeffe Cup on behalf of Kilkenny yesterday. This was merely the ritual after an afternoon devoid of tension. The victory speech had all the adrenaline of your average parish notices and even Kilkenny supporters had drifted away after what had turned out just another step towards regaining the All-Ireland.
The champions were as impressive as had been expected. Their forwards were lethal in the dispatch of chances and their defence was strong and ruthless in snuffing out any lingering resistance.
Probably the worst thing you could say about yesterday's Guinness Leinster hurling final was that it was every bit as bad as we had feared. The prospect of Kilkenny pulverising another provincial challenge had preyed on the minds of anyone thinking about this match and ultimately, the worst fears were confirmed.
It was impossible not to sympathise with Wexford. They tried hard, created some chances but ended up being swatted away by a stronger, more assured and deadlier team. In addition the losers had no luck.
Breaks went against them, injuries went against them and even the one- man advantage they enjoyed for most of the second half seemed to move Kilkenny up a gear.
Given the daunting task facing them, Wexford needed everything to click from an early stage. Yet from the start there were signs of the frustrations that lay ahead.
Wexford started with the best of intentions. They harried, chased and moved the ball as quickly as possible. The problem was that the purity of their ambition was undermined by clumsy or nervous execution. They struggled to get cleanly on the ball and this awkwardness contrasted sharply with Kilkenny's lethal technique.
Wides mounted quickly for Wexford. Then in the ninth minute, the match lurched in the expected direction. Henry Shefflin roasted Colm Kehoe and created a goal chance for himself but Damien Fitzhenry saved smartly only for the sliotar to ricochet into the air and D J Carey to bat it into the net.
Now it was going to be every bit as uphill a task as might have been feared. Again the chances to respond weren't taken. Paul Codd had two goal chances, got hooked on one occasion by J J Delaney and forced a good block from James McGarry on the other.
A few things began to emerge. Those who thought Charlie Carter's six points from six attempts in the semi-final might represent a season's high point were to be confounded as the crafty corner forward hit seven from seven yesterday - his one wide a flick-on rather than a scoring attempt.
Larry O'Gorman was covering well but prone to errors that spoiled the overall effect. Adrian Fenlon hit his usual quota of ball into the forwards but for all their movement, they were unable to capitalise on what was in the first half a reasonable flow. As well as difficulties in technique, the forwards were physically at a disadvantage to the Kilkenny defence.
If Eamonn Kennedy wasn't as immense a presence as he had been against Offaly, he was comfortably in control of his patch. In the early stages Larry Murphy got a point and a run on him and although this led to a good goal chance, the threat was to evaporate when the Wexford man broke a toe just into the second quarter.
He was replaced on the half-hour and although reintroduced after half-time, had his effectiveness inevitably impaired. This merely added to Wexford's woes up front, where Kilkenny's backs were already turning the screw. Michael Kavanagh played exceptionally well, Philip Larkin never permitted Ryan Quigley's height advantage to become a factor and the inexperienced left flank of the defence coped well.
As the match wore on, this mastery of their opponents intensified.
Until the last 10 minutes, Wexford had managed only one point in the second half and the late burst of four more came at a stage when the match, even by its unexacting standards, was only going through the motions.
Kilkenny probably broke their opponents' hearts in the period before half-time. Having responded to Carey's goal and reduced the deficit at one stage to two points, Wexford were blitzed in the closing minutes of the minutes of the half. Under the pressure, more things went wrong. Passes went astray, the ball was dropped and the ball was fouled.
The champions were clinical in this phase. Brian McEvoy hit a couple of points and added two more in the second half to demonstrate that he was restored to the form he had enjoyed until injury disrupted last season for him. By the interval the lead was six.
A brief glimpse of a goal appeared like a vision before Wexford on the restart but Barry Goff was just unable to get a decent contact on Martin Byrne's ball across goal. From then on, the margin began to expand and it took a good save from Fitzhenry to deny Carter who had slipped in on goal.
The final blow for Wexford came a minute later when Colm Kehoe was helped off with a broken collarbone. John Hoyne was shown a second yellow card for the challenge but the Wexford corner back had been making a stab at marking Carter and his loss was identified as a watershed afterwards by manager Tony Dempsey.
In truth the match was moving well beyond Wexford by then but it was a further blow to morale. There followed some fire and fury from Wexford as they tried to make the advantage pay but in the 48th minute, even that brief rebellion was suppressed.
A long ball from McEvoy spun up viciously for Shefflin past Rory Mallon. His quick transfer to substitute Eddie Brennan resulted in a second goal. For the remaining 20 minutes, Kilkenny hoisted a number of well-taken points with Canice Brennan - who had a fine match - probably delivering the pick of them from the left wing.
By the end the only question was the margin and what team left in the championship has any chance of derailing the champions.
