Leinster claimed M Donnelly Interprovincial hurling glory for the first time in two years when they defeated Munster in an entertaining clash at Portlaoise on Saturday evening. This was the 25th time for Leinster to lift the title and even though the competition has come in for some harsh criticism the level of commitment by the players on show was of the highest level. Both sides fielded strong sides, and right from the outset, it looked like this one was going right down to the wire and so it transpired as it took goal from Richie Hogan in the 51st minute to put some daylight between the sides. The opening exchanges were tight until Andrew O'Shaughnessy scored a goal for Munster to help them to a 1-8 to 0-5 lead at half time, with Paul Kelly, John Gardiner and Ben O'Connor all finding their range for the men from the Southern counties. Kilkenny's Richie Power was in excellent from frees and he played a big part in hauling his side back into contention, while the introduction of Brian Hogan at centre field was a huge help to Leinster's cause. Points from Hogan, Power and Michael Rice clawed the deficit back and Hogan's goal set them on the road to victory much to the delight of the Leinster following present. Scorers for Leinster: R Power 0-09 (0-06f, 0-01 '65', 0-01 pen), R Hogan 1-01, J O'Connor, A Fogarty, E Brennan, E Larkin, M Rice 0-01 each. Scorers for Munster: E Kelly 0-07 (0-06f), A Shaughnessy 1-00, B O'Connor 0-02, N Gilligan, J Gardiner, Paul Kelly 0-01 each. LEINSTER: PJ Ryan (Kilkenny); J Dalton (Kilkenny), J Tyrrell (Kilkenny), D Franks (Offaly); T Walsh (Kilkenny), R Fallon (Dublin), J O'Connor (Wexford); R Hanniffy (Offaly), E Coady (Carlow); M Rice (Kilkenny), B Murtagh (Westmeath), E Larkin (Kilkenny); E Brennan (Kilkenny), R Power (Kilkenny), R Hogan (Kilkenny). Subs used: B Hogan (Kilkenny) for Coady (half-time), A Fogarty (Kilkenny) for Murtagh (34 mins), D Horan (Offaly) for Dalton (44), T Fitzgerald (Laois) for Larkin (60). MUNSTER: B Cummins (Tipperary); C O'Brien (Tipperary), P Curran (Tipperary), S Hickey(Limerick); J Gardiner (Cork), G Quinn (Clare), S Óg Ó hAilpín(Cork); T Kenny (Cork), B O'Connell (Clare); P Kelly (Tipperary), T Carmody (Clare), B O'Connor (Cork); A O'Shaughnessy (Limerick), E Kelly (Waterford), N Gilligan (Clare). Subs used: D Óg Cusack (Cork) for Cummins (half-time), L Corbett (Tipperary) for Carmody (41 mins), D Fanning (Tipperary) for Quinn (43), S Callanan (Tipperary) for O'Shaughnessy (56). Tweet

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