Kilkenny 2-13 Galway 0-12 Cool, crisp Kilkenny added to the Cats' haul of silverware this year when they secured a non-too flattering seven point win over a lack-lustre Galway side in a tepid All-Ireland Under 21 hurling decider at wintry Semple Stadium, Thurles. Timely goals in a ten minute spell either side of the interval were all-important for the Leinstermen as they added to the minor and senior national titles scooped in the last few weeks. In what was an archetypal nip and tuck first half, frees were aplenty in a disappointing stop-start if exciting contest. With neither side managing to secure anything other than a fleeting grip on the exchanges, the game swung from end to end with monotonous regularity. Inevitably though given the claustrophobic nature of the proceedings, the free-taking expertise of Shane Hennessy (Kilkenny) and Galway's dangerous full-forward Ger Farragher was always going to play an important role. In this respect, the Galwayman reaped the greater return with his five first half points helping his side retain their place at the coalface throughout the first moiety. His side's top scorer, Hennessy was no less busy but it was his colleague, senior county star Tommy Walsh who scored the best point of the half in the 11th minute to ease the Cats into the lead by the odd point in seven. Another fine point by Conor Phelan (Kilkenny) in the 13th minute seemed to give the Leinstermen a psychological edge as the midway point came and went. And things could have got even better for Kilkenny moments later but Galway 'keeper Aidan Diviney brought off a great save from a rasping Willie O'Dwyer effort. The Galway net wasn't to stay intact for much longer though with right full-forward Aidan Fogarty crashing the sliothar past the helpless Diviney in the 26th minute to leave Galway looking at a 0-6 to 1-5 deficit. Kilkenny added to their opponents' woes less than two minutes later when Shane Hennessy knocked over his second point of the game. Galway fought tooth and nail to rebound with interest but a second point of the game for Kevin Brady was their sole reward for some enterprising play in pushing forward. Defending a 1-7 to 0-7 lead on the restart, Kilkenny managed to grab the start that their opponents desired as the second half got off to a frantic start. The in-form Conor Phelan was Kilkenny's goal hero in the second half with his early major fairly putting the Tribesmen rocking on their heels. Plucky Galway refused to panic though and good work by Hayes set up John Paul O'Connell for a fine point after 13 minutes to keep Kilkenny honest. And when Ger Farragher was on target again three minutes later with his seventh point of the game suddenly the Galway didn't look so bad in the increasingly wet and windy conditions. But that was as good as it got for the underdogs as Kilkenny proceeded to rise their game once again in the face of a renewed challenge from the Connachtmen. Conor Phelan made it a 1-3 personal tally in the 16th minute to stretch the Cats' lead to five points, 2-10 to 0-11. From there to the finish the bite and fire which characterised Galway's play in the first half slowly dissipated. And when messrs. Hennessy, Walsh and Phelan fired over unanswered points in as many minutes, the writing was well and truly on the wall for Galway. The Connachtmen tried everything to engineer a get-out clause as the game entered the final ten minutes but an untypically poor free by Farragher saw Galway's hopes slip even further away. There was simply no way back for Galway thereafter with Kilkenny comfortably copper-fastening their advantage from there to the long whistle. Tweet

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