ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 1 SEMI-FINAL

Clare 4-22 Kilkenny 2-19

By Jackie Cahill at Semple Stadium, Thurles

Clare will meet Waterford in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final on 1 May – just five weeks before the sides face off in a mouth-watering Munster senior hurling championship semi-final.

The two counties will be seeing plenty of each other down the tracks as any doubts about Clare’s hunger for the fight against Kilkenny in this afternoon’s League semi-final were dispelled in a power-packed display.

Some might have suspected that Clare might not want to play Waterford so close to the championship duel but the Banner men went about their business clinically in front of 20,481 spectators in Thurles this afternoon, inflicting a nine-point defeat on an outclassed Kilkenny.

It was a good afternoon for Clare as Tony Kelly made his first appearance of the League campaign – and scored two points into the bargain. Kelly came on as a second half sub and pinged over his first point with his very first touch, and his second point handed Clare their biggest lead of the game. They were 13 points clear at that stage, 4-18 to 1-14, and while Kilkenny hit back with a Jonjo Farrell goal, they were always playing catch up.

Clare’s win puts the Division 1B table-toppers just 70 minutes away from a first top flight League crown since 1978. And when they face off against Waterford, it will be their first final appearance since losing to Kilkenny in 2005.

At half-time, Kilkenny were eleven points down as Clare hit them for three first half goals. The Banner men led by 3-12 to 0-10 at the break and were full value for it against a Kilkenny side that managed just six points from play in the opening half. The sides traded the opening two scores of the game but Clare pulled away from there to put real daylight between the sides.

They moved 0-5 to 0-1 clear and while Kilkenny briefly rallied to within three points, Reid was effectively keeping the Cats in touch from placed balls, while also missing one later in the half that he’d normally clip over with ease. The game’s opening goal arrived in the 16th minute and it was a route one effort that had the Kilkenny rearguard in all sorts of trouble.

Goalkeeper Eoin Murphy and full-back Joey Holden got themselves in a tangle and John Conlon was on hand to pounce from close range. Goal number two was banged home by Cunningham in the 20th minute, although Murphy might feel disappointed that he was beaten at his near post. And Clare’s third goal, in the 26th minute, was almost a carbon copy of the first, as another long ball allowed Cunningham to pick up the pieces this time as Kilkenny failed yet again to deal with the aerial bombardment.

Kevin Kelly did clip over a couple of points from play in the first half for Kilkenny but Clare, with Cunningham in red-hot attacking form and Colm Galvin also exceptional, had far more energy about them. Clare picked up where they had left off in the second half but Reid’s goal from a 20m free in the 42nd minute, which somehow found its way into the net through a posse of bodies, gave the Cats hope.

But any hopes of a Kilkenny revival were extinguished 20 minutes from time when the brilliant Conor McGrath rifled home a super goal at the Killinan End of Semple Stadium.

Kelly came on to a rapturous reception shortly after and had the Clare fans off their seats with a brace of points. And while Farrell managed to claim that consolation goal, it was never going to be enough to eat into the Clare advantage as Davy Fitzgerald’s charges cruised home to the finishing line.

Scorers for Clare: A Cunningham 2-3, C McGrath 1-6 (2f, 2 65s), C Galvin 0-5, J Conlon 1-1, D Honan & T Kelly 0-2 each, D Reidy, P Collins & C O’Connell 0-1 each.

Scorers for Kilkenny: TJ Reid 1-7 (1-6f), Jonjo Farrell 1-1, P Walsh, W Walsh, K Kelly & C Bolger 0-2 each, C Buckley, J Power & R Hogan 0-1 each.

CLARE: P Kelly; O O’Brien, C Dillon, P Flanagan; C Cleary, P O’Connor, D Fitzgerald; B Bugler, C Galvin; J Conlon, C McGrath, D Reidy; P Collins, D Honan, A Cunningham.

Subs: T Kelly for Conlon (51), C O’Connell for Honan (57), C Ryan for Reidy (64), A Shanagher for Cunningham (67), B Duggan for Collins (70+1).

KILKENNY: E Murphy; J Tyrrell, J Holden, S Prendergast; P Walsh, K Joyce, C O’Shea; L Ryan, C Buckley; W Walsh, TJ Reid, K Kelly; J Power, Jonjo Farrell, R Hogan.

**Subs: **B Kennedy for Tyrrell (22), L Blanchfield for O’Shea (55), C Bolger (0-02) for Kelly (64).

Referee: F Horgan (Tipperary).