Glenisk O’Connor Park where Dublin defeated Galway. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
oneills.com Leinster U-20 hurling championship semi-finals
Kilkenny 0-26 Laois 1-9
Dublin 2-18 Galway 0-17
By Paul Keane
Remember how a resurgent Dublin lost both of their group games in last year's oneills.com Leinster U-20 HC yet still reached the final, beating Galway at the semi-final stage? Well, they've done it again.
The young Dubs wouldn't have wished to do it this way but the momentum generated from preliminary and quarter-final wins was hugely significant again.
Galway qualified directly for this evening's semi-final as Tier 1 group winners and were rocked by the ferocity of Dublin's early surge, Callum Graham netting twice in the opening six minutes.
Graham's first goal, inside 90 seconds, put a slick and focused Dublin into a lead they would hold onto for the duration and his second goal soon after left them with a 2-2 to 0-1 lead.
Graham finished with 2-3 while free-taker Daniel O'Kelly and Ollie Gaffney shared 10 points evenly between them - propelling Dublin through to a provincial final clash with Kilkenny next week.
Senior duo Conal O Riain and Brendan Kenny were on the mark with scores too as Dublin built on a 2-8 to 0-11 half-time lead to win by a surprisingly comfortable seven points.
Galway reduced the gap to a point at one stage late in the first-half but were always chasing the game after the disastrous start.
Meanwhile, Kilkenny produced a devastating burst of second-half scoring in Portlaoise to see off Laois and qualify for their first final since 2022.
Laois kept pace with Mark Dowling's Kilkenny for 40 minutes and trailed by just a point at that stage, 1-7 to 0-11.
In fact, after scoring three points in a row from Ben Deegan they were eyeing a win to mirror their minor defeat of the same opposition, at the same stage and venue, three years ago.
That was precisely when Kilkenny moved up a couple of gears, however, impressively reeling off 13 points in a row to end the contest.
Michael Brennan scored eight points in all for Kilkenny and five of those came during that scoring burst between the 40th and 56th minutes.
Powerful full-forward Marty Murphy came strongly into the game too, scoring three points in that period and five overall.
Kilkenny had 10 different scorers over the hour as they burned off a Laois side that had previously scored an impressive quarter-final win over Wexford.
Kyron Cuddy's 30th minute goal for Laois, when he followed up on a blocked shot to convert from close range, left the hosts just a point down at that stage, 1-4 to 0-8.
Rory Glynn and Brennan pointed for Kilkenny who were 0-10 to 1-4 up at half-time though those three Deegan points in a row, all from frees, hinted at a second Laois coming.
Laois only added two more points in the game though, late scores from Jack Breen and sub Cian Hill as Kilkenny went for the jugular.
