Offaly, Galway and Wexford joined Dublin in the semi-finals of the Walsh Cup following wins over Kilkenny, Laois and UCD respectively yesterday.

Offaly will face former manager John McIntyre's Galway next Sunday after they recorded a surprise 1-16 to 1-13 victory over Kilkenny at Tullamore. However, the All-Ireland champions fielded a shadow side with John Tennyson and Richie Hogan the only regulars to start.

With Hogan pulling the strings up front, the Cats had opened up a 0-10 to 0-5 lead by the 32nd minute, but a scrambled Ger Healion goal left Joe Dooley's side just a point adrift at the break, 1-6 to 0-10.
A Martin Boran goal put Kilkenny back in the driving seat on the restart, but Offaly battled back to restore parity before the Cats went 1-13 to 1-11 clear with 17 minutes remaining.

However, Offaly dominated the closing exchanges and inflicted a rare defeat on Brian Cody's men thanks to late points from Joe Bergin (three), Kevin Brady and Cathal Parlon.

In Rathdowney, Galway needed extra-time to see off Laois on a 4-24 to 2-17 scoreline. The home side were much sharper in the first half and John Rowney's goal had them 1-11 to 0-7 to the good at half-time.

But with Ger Farragher to the fore, the Tribesmen fought back to force extra-time before taking over completely in the additional 20 minutes with Farragher, Richie Cummins and Joe Gantley all finding the net.

Wexford will meet Dublin in the other semi-final after first half goals from Stephen Banville and Jim Berry helped them to a 2-16 to 1-13 victory over UCD in Gorey. They led by 1-3 to 0-0 inside seven minutes, and a second goal from Berry had them 2-9 to 0-6 ahead at the interval.

With Wexford's Peter Atkinson and Dublin's Liam Rushe in fine scoring form, the students improved after the restart, but Wexford stayed ahead thanks to efforts from Diarmuid Lyng, Banville and Darren Nolan. Tweet

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