A general view of UPMC Nowlan Park. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship
Tier 1, Round 1
Kilkenny 4-24 Galway 1-14
Dublin 0-18 Wexford 0-15
Tier 2, Round 4
Westmeath 1-27 Antrim 2-14
Offaly 3-30 Wicklow 1-7
By Paul Keane
Bill McDermott hit the net twice as Kilkenny's minors got their Leinster championship campaign off to a terrific start at UPMC Nowlan Park.
The young Cats, runners up in last year's provincial decider and ultimately defeated at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, hit visiting Galway hard and early.
McDermott's first goal, a terrific effort from 30 metres out, and another Jake Mullen goal propelled Niall Bergin's side 2-13 to 0-7 clear at the break.
Ciaran Leen struck a tidy brace of points for Galway and added a third early in the second.
They kept pace with Kilkenny throughout the third quarter and outscored them by 0-6 to 0-5 in that 15-minute or so period.
But Kilkenny hit the afterburners again in the closing quarter with a third goal, through Patrick Lacey in the 53rd minute, and McDermott's second major arrived in the 60th minute, putting them out of sight.
Free-taker Mullen finished with 1-9 while McDermott helped himself to 2-3. Kilkenny had 10 different scores in total.
They are joined at the thead of the four-team Tier 1 group by Dublin who held off a rallying Wexford to win by three points at Parnell Park.
Free-takers Rory Flannery and Cathal Barrett struck 0-13 between them and Dublin, in control in the opening half, could have led by more than 0-9 to 0-5 at the break.
Flannery's precise play from placed balls helped Dublin open up a seven-point gap in the third quarter and they needed that cushion as Wexford fought back.
Sean O'Brien finished with 10 points for the Model County, all from frees, but they came up just short.
Dublin will host Galway in Round 2 next weekend while Wexford will have home advantage against Kilkenny.
The top two teams in the group will advance to the provincial semi-finals on May 18.
Meanwhile, Westmeath made it three wins from three in the five-team Tier 2, Group 1 with another impressive win in Mullingar.
Ian Corrigan's side ran out 10-point winners having previously enjoyed much larger wins over Wicklow and Meath.
Thomas McLaughlin's goal after just five minutes for Antrim set the Saffrons on a solid footing but a strong Westmeath revival that included a flicked Padraig Casey goal left the hosts 1-13 to 1-7 up at half-time.
McLaughlin struck a second goal for Antrim to leave just two points between the teams with 20 minutes to go.
Westmeath finished strongly from there with a series of Kian Loughlin and Cormac McKeough points, Loughlin rounding off the scoring with his 12th point of the afternoon.
Offaly comfortably took care of Wicklow in this afternoon's other Tier 2, Group 1 game. Following a delayed start, two first-half goals fired the Faithful 2-12 to 0-4 ahead at the interval and a late Odhran Fletcher goal sealed their comprehensive 29-point win.