Dublin 1-14 Kilkenny 1-11:DUBLIN ARE already established as Kilkenny's main rivals for provincial hurling honours, at all levels, but it was the manner of yesterday's victory that tells us more.
Kilkenny struggled to make a sustained impact on the Dublin defence but they still threatened to tie matters up at the death. Dublin’s last line stubbornly refused to yield as corner back Seánie McClelland produced two heroic late interventions.
After substitute James Maher brought matters back to three points with a daisy-cutting goal entering injury time, McClelland won possession from the subsequent puck-out, and shortly after he was at the heart of the action again, batting clear in defence as Kilkenny threatened a late goal to level the game.
The vital statistics are interesting in that Dublin denied Kilkenny a four in a row of Leinster titles. A 21st Century duopoly now exists between them as Dublin clinched a third success here, following their 2005 and 2007 wins.
Dublin were in control for most of this contest despite a constant flow of wides, which eventually totalled 15 to Kilkenny’s 10, but many of these were racked up in the impetuous opening exchanges as the teams attempted to settle.
A fine long-range effort by Glenn Whelan got them off the mark while a brace from Paul Winters had them leading as the dust settled. Kevin Kelly’s scoring return buried Dublin in last year’s final and he did get going with 0-2 in the opening stanza but his shot for goal from a 21-yard free was blocked on 20 minutes.
Up the other end Cormac Costello was in fine form, nailing 0-2 before an instinctive finish to the net, after Aodhán Clabby’s run, left Dublin leading 1-8 to 0-6 at the turn.
Kelly and David Kearns pulled matters back to 1-8 to 0-8 but Oisín O’Rorke came off the bench to land a free on 43 minutes to open up the gap again. Scores by Emmet Ó Conghaile, Jamie Desmond, O’Rorke and then Ciarán Kilkenny’s late two-point blitz reinforced their dominance as The Cats’ revival came too late.
DUBLIN: C Ryan; E Lowndes, C O’Callaghan, S McClelland; C Crummy (0-1), J Desmond (0-1, free), M McCaffrey; G Whelan (0-1), C Cronin; C Kilkenny (0-2, 0-1 free), C McHugh, E Ó Conghaile (0-3); C Costello (1-2), A Clabby, P Winters (0-2, 0-1 free). Subs: O O’Rorke (0-2, 0-1 free) for P Winters (half-time), B McCarthy for C Cronin (50 mins), C Boland for G Whelan, D Forde for C McHugh (both 57 mins).
KILKENNY: A Duggan; J McDowell, C Doyle, E Morrissey; C O’Shea (0-1), E McGrath, D Cody; K Walsh, C Bolger; C Martin, K Kelly (0-3, 0-2 frees), P Keneally; P Vickery (0-2), T O’Hanrahan (0-1), R Reid (0-2). Subs: D Kearns (0-1) for P Keneally (half-time), J Maher (1-1) for C Martin (38 mins), R Moran for K Walsh (48 mins), J Hayes for P Vickery (57 mins).
Referee: J Heffernan (Wexford).
