Round-up: Fulfil Leinster U20 HC

​Fulfil Leinster U20 Hurling Championship, Tier 1, Round 2

Group 1

Kilkenny 1-18 Wexford 2-15

Galway 1-19 Kildare 0-9

Group 2

Dublin 1-22 Laois 1-14

By Paul Keane

Henry Shefflin's Kilkenny will go head-to-head with Galway to see who finishes top of their Fulfil Leinster U20 HC group to secure a semi-final place.

But Galway will approach that final round clash on April 22 in pole position in Group 1 after comfortably taking care of business against Kildare to maintain their 100 per cent record.

The young Tribesmen hammered Wexford in Round 1 and could afford to leave out senior stars Aaron Niland, who smashed 3-8 against Wexford, Jason Rabbitte, Sean Rabbitte and Cullen Killeen and still progress.

Vince Morgan's 19th minute goal, when he pounced after a long free in dropped short, put Galway 1-8 to 0-2 up at that stage and on the road to victory while Ciarán Leen got on the scoresheet too.

Tom Power scored all but one of Kildare's first-half points as Galway hit the interval with a 1-11 to 0-5 lead.

Points from Power and Oisín O'Neill after the restart cut Kildare's deficit to six, 1-11 to 0-8, but they didn't score again for a dozen minutes as Galway pulled decisively clear.

There was a much more dramatic ending to the Kilkenny-Wexford game with Patrick Lacey pointing in the fourth minute of stoppage time to rescue the draw for Kilkenny.

Wexford were 0-11 to 0-7 up at half time but a strong third quarter performance by Kilkenny, which included scores from Kevin Buggy, Ed Lauhoff, Lacey and Jake Mullen, helped the holders to lead by 0-16 to 0-13.

They led by four when Ollie O'Donovan pounced for a Kilkenny goal in the 56th minute after a high delivery into the danger area, 1-16 to 0-15.

But the drama was just beginning as Wexford goals from sub Conor Fanning and Seán O'Brien left them a point ahead deep into stoppage time. That's when Lacey intervened for Kilkenny to ensure the stalemate.

The result leaves Wexford with a point in Group 1 and Kildare pointless, so the winner of their Round 3 game will qualify for a quarter-final.

In Group 2, Offaly will take on Dublin in Round 3 to see who advances to the semi-final as table toppers.

Offaly saw off a determined Meath on Thursday evening and Dublin had to dig similarly deep this afternoon to beat Laois.

Dublin lost a player to a red card in the opening half and Laois led by 1-9 to 0-10 at half time, the goal coming from an Eoin Murphy penalty.

Laois points from Cormac Byrne and Hugh Whelan left them 1-12 to 0-12 ahead with 45 minutes on the clock at Parnell Park.

But Dublin hit the afterburners from there, outscoring Laois by 1-10 to 0-2 in the final quarter to win by a flattering eight-point margin.

Darragh Kilduff, sub Daniel O'Kelly and Callum Graham hit important points for Dublin in that period late on while Aaron Gargan drilled their goal in the 63rd minute.

All is not lost Laois and Meath at the foot of Group 2 as the winner of their Round 3 meeting, in Meath, will advance to the quarter-finals.