Kilkenny are through to their first All-Ireland senior hurling championship in three years after dismantling a disappointing Clare side at Croke Park this evening.

It finished 2-26 to 0-20 in favour of the Cats whom had been 11 points ahead when Martin Keoghan fired in their first goal on the stroke of half-time.

Clare, who had central figure John Conlon ruled out through injury before throw-in, were completely out of sorts for the opening 35 minutes at headquarters, only registering 0-6 for the entire first-half and they’d go on hit 23 wides in the end.

This one-sided semi-final clash was well and truly up for the Banner men once Cian Kenny goaled for the Leinster champions seven minutes into the restart.

Brian Cody’s men were ruthless from the start, building up a 0-7 to 0-2 lead inside 11 minutes and scores from the ever-reliable TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen and Padraig Walsh would help them to lead by 0-17 to 0-6 when Keoghan bundled home their first goal.

Nothing had went right for Clare up to that point, with even their talisman Tony Kelly having an off day, and things were about to get worse as Reid and Billy Ryan upped the Cats’ tally to 0-19 prior to Kenny grabbing his first championship goal thanks to a cool low finish.

That was well and truly ‘game, set and match’ at headquarters as ‘Man of the Match’ Reid went on to bring his own personal tally into double figures (0-10) and help put a seal on his county’s All-Ireland final berth against either Limerick or Galway on July 17th.

Watch the Full-Time Highlights of Clare v Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final here on #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/jqdTHuxmTJ

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 2, 2022

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