Kilkenny hold off Galway fightback to claim sixth Leinster on the trot
A 77th Leinster SH championship for Kilkenny, a sixth in a row and for over an hour a final that appeared they were going to win with relative ease.
Galway had been on a four-game winning streak since losing to Kilkenny by 12 points at Easter but so much of this game served as another reminder of how far they are behind Derek Lyng's side. Not scoring from play between the 23rd and 59th minutes was an indictment.
The crowd of 37,503 in Croke Park thought they knew the result before TJ Reid put a lid on it with a 57th minute goal to send Kilkenny 12 up. Cianan Fahy was turned over, the ball was transferred up the field to Martin Keoghan who returned a favour to Reid for an earlier assist.
When Paddy Deegan followed up with a point and a smile, a few Galway folk were departing the stadium but what followed was a 1-6 rally from their side. Brian Concannon's 64th minute goal from a quick free cut the gap to six points and Kevin Cooney and Cathal Mannion (free) backed it up.
The teams shared the next four points but Galway's hopes of an unlikely recovery ended when Darragh Walsh, who came off the bench for injured Éanna Murphy, misjudged a Luke Hogan ball in the second minute of additional time and Keoghan poached to tap it into the net to put the result beyond doubt.
A first half providing just 18 scores and 14 wides along with a couple of attempts that fell short didn't make for stunning hurling. Aside from some individual brilliance provided by full-backs Daithí Burke and Huw Lawlor, it was a period that began promising but flattened as it developed.
Although the sides were level on five occasions, Kilkenny finished with three of the last four scores of the half including a Keoghan goal to lead 1-9 to 0-8 at the interval.
Galway had gone into a 0-3 to 0-1 after eight minutes but a hat-trick of points from Keoghan, John Donnelly and Jordan Molloy turned the tables albeit temporarily.
When Cathal Mannion, who was being tagged by Mikey Butler, followed up on a John Fleming score with one of his own, Galway regained their lead only for Kilkenny to take it back with Billy Ryan and Reid (free) scores.
In-form Mannion landed a score from within his own half of the field in the 23rd minute to square the match for a fifth time. A brace of Reid frees followed and while Mannion cancelled out one of them with a placed ball himself, the key score of the half came in the 33rd minute.
A diagonal ball from Deegan was fetched by Reid who circled around to give him space to shoot and while that was kept out by Murphy, Keoghan followed up to touch it over the goal-line, injuring Murphy in the process.
Scorers for Kilkenny: M. Keoghan (2-2); T.J. Reid (1-4, 0-4 frees); A. Mullen (0-4); B. Ryan (0-3); C. Kenny, M. Carey, S. Donnelly (0-2 each); J. Donnelly, J. Molloy, P. Deegan (0-1 each).
Scorers for Galway: C. Mannion (0-11, 7 frees); K. Cooney (0-3); B. Concannon (1-0); T. Killeen (0-2); T.J. Brennan, T. Monaghan, J. Fleming, S. Linnane (0-1 each).
KILKENNY: E. Murphy; T. Walsh, H. Lawlor, P. Deegan; M. Carey, R. Reid, M. Butler; C. Kenny, J. Molloy, J. Donnelly (c), A. Mullen, B. Ryan; S. Donnelly, M. Keoghan, T.J. Reid.
Subs for Kilkenny: L. Hogan for S. Donnelly, D. Blanchfield for T. Walsh (59); S. Murphy for M. Butler (67); K. Doyle for J. Molloy (70+1); H. Shine for B. Ryan (70+3).
GALWAY: É. Murphy; F. Burke, Daithí Burke, P. Mannion; C. Fahy, G. Lee, T.J. Brennan; S. Linnane, David Burke; C. Mannion, T. Monaghan, C. Whelan; J. Fleming, B. Concannon, K. Cooney.
Subs for Galway: D. Morrissey for F. Burke (inj 35+2); D. Walsh for É. Murphy (inj h-t); R. Glennon for David Burke (43); T. Killeen for J. Fleming (54); A. Burns for T. Monaghan (67).
Referee: J. Murphy (Limerick).
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