Kilkenny collected their 70th Leinster senior hurling championship crown with a 1-25 to 2-15 defeat of Galway at Croke Park.

With 32,954 watching on, the sides were level seven times but the Cats pulled away in the end as Man of the Match TJ Reid finished with 1-9 after his name, while Richie Hogan and the peerless Eoin Larkin shared eight points.

The defining moments in this match arrived between the 13th and 21st minutes of the second half as the confident, resilient holders reeled off five successive points to reassume control of proceedings and ultimately retain the Bob O'Keeffe Cup - Brian Cody's 39th piece of silverware as Kilkenny manager.

Reid helped himself to 1-5 during the opening half as the Noresides took a 1-11 to 1-8 advantage into the break. Six other Kilkenny players registered before the interval. Joe Canning provided 1-4 of the Tribesmen's first-half tally, including a truly splendid 31st-minute major. Apart from Reid and Canning, no other player scored more than once during a demanding first 35 minutes.

The sides shared ten points over the course of an evenly-contested opening 15 minutes, Canning's free making it 0-5 each before Hogan edged the Noresiders back in front.

Forced to start without Michael Fennelly, the Cats grabbed the first two points via Walter Walsh and Ger Aylward before Jonathan Glynn, Cathal Mannion and Canning (free) replied. A Reid brace from the left was replied to by a Canning free as the sides were level for the third time, 0-4 each. Canning's third point was in response to Reid's third ('65').

Colin Fennelly added to Hogan's effort to put two between them after 19 minutes. Reid's fourth of the match came from beneath the Hogan Stand on the right wing after Canning and Conor Fogarty had exchanged points. Reid then won and converted a free to make it 0-10 to 0-6 with nine minutes left in the first half.

In the 27th minute, the unmarkable Reid gathered possession after Aylward's effort had been blocked and lashed the sliothar to the net to leave seven points between the teams.

Galway's response was magnificent: points from David Burke and Fergal Moore followed by a glorious goal from Canning, who did all the work himself, catching a high Andy Smith delivery on the run before planting an unstoppable shot past Eoin Murphy into the Hill 16 net four minutes from the break. Criminally, Hill 16 was empty for one of the goals of the year.

Larkin delivered the last score of the opening period on the stroke of half time as the Black & Amber led by three at the turnaround.

Ten minutes into the second half, the gap was down to one point, 1-15 to 2-11: Jason Flynn levelled the scores when he calmly netted straight after the restart; Reid (free) and Hogan responded either side of a Cyril Donnellan point; Donnellan and Colin Fennelly swapped points; Aylward's second was cancelled out by a Canning free.

Between the 48th and 56th minutes, the Cats roared with a run of five consecutive points off the sticks of Aylward, Hogan, Reid (2) and Larkin to lead by six.

A Canning brace had the westerners back within four points with an hour played and Donnellan reduced the arrears further before Hogan and Walsh made it 1-22 to 2-14 with eight minutes remaining. Canning's routine free five minutes from time kept the Tribe ticking over but Reid then placed former Hurler of the Year Larkin for his third point of the match.

Reid flashed over a retaken free on 69 minutes to leave Anthony Cunningham's men with a mountain to climb and Murphy cleared his lines when Galway came looking for a game-saving goal.

Incredible skill from Larkin preceded his fourth point as the winners finished strongly with the last three points. They haven't gone away, you know.

Kilkenny - E Murphy; P Murphy, J Holden, J Tyrrell; P Walsh, K Joyce, C Buckley; W Walsh (0-2), C Fogarty (0-1); J Power, R Hogan (0-4), C Fennelly (0-2); TJ Reid (1-9, 0-5f, 0-1'65), G Aylward (0-3), E Larkin (0-4). Subs: S Prendergast for J Tyrrell, M Kelly for J Power, M Ruth for C Fennelly.

Galway - C Callinan; J Coen, J Hanbury, P Mannion; F Moore (0-1), Daithi Burke, I Tannian; A Smith, A Harte; David Burke (0-1), C Donnellan (0-3), J Glynn (0-1); D Glennon, J Canning (1-8, 0-7f), C Mannion (0-1). Subs: J Flynn (1-0) for D Glennon, J Cooney for A Harte, P Brehony for David Burke, N Healy for C Mannion.

Referee - J McGrath.

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