ELECTRIC IRELAND LEINSTER AND MUNSTER MHC QUARTER FINAL RESULTS

CORK 6-28 CLARE 0-6

TIPPERARY 2-27 KERRY 1-14

DUBLIN 4-18 MEATH 1-6

WEXFORD 2-18 KILDARE 3-10

It was comfortable victories all the way in the various provincial quarter-finals that took place in the Electric Ireland minor hurling championship tonight, with perhaps the biggest surprise being that the largest margin of victory was recorded at Semple Stadium in Thurles in the meeting of Cork and Clare.

Clare failed to score at all in the first quarter of the contest and while a brief run of three scores in a row from Niall O’Farrell, James Organ and Conor Whelan suggested that there was hope for the county, that was quickly extinguished by two goals in three minutes from Jack Leahy, helping to make it 2-9 to 0-5 at half time.

The second-half was incredibly one-sided, with Leahy, Ross O’Sullivan and Adam Walsh (two) raising the green flags as Cork outscored the Banner boys by 4-17 to 0-1, meaning there was 40 points between the teams at the final whistle.

Kerry gave Tipperary plenty to think about in the game at the LIT Gaelic Grounds, with Killian Boyle’s goal keeping them level up until first half injury time, when Darragh Guinan struck to give Tipperary a 1-10 to 1-7 lead.

Guinan added a second goal while Darragh Minogue (0-7) and Orrin Jones (0-9) piled on the points in the second half, setting up a clash with Waterford in the last four.  

In Leinster, Kildare made a valiant attempt to back up last week’s sensational win over Laois with another home victory over the Model county in the Leinster minor hurling championship tonight, but it wasn’t too be as a powerful finish from Wexford secured a 2-18 to 3-10 win and a place in next week’s semi-final line-up.

Luke Roche got Wexford out to a dream start with a goal in the first minute but Kildare responded well and were level by the water break thanks to some superb scores from Fionn Maher and Alan Tobin. The tight contest continued right up until half-time when Kildare led by 1-6 to 1-5, Seamus Kelleher their goalscorer when he got the final touch on a high ball in a crowded goalmouth.

Alan Tobin finished off a superb team move for another goal to push Kildare two clear on 36 minutes, but Wexford took over at that point and played some very impressive hurling through the lines to score 1-8 unanswered. Adam O’Grady, Luke Murphy and Sean Cooney scored some outstanding points before a sharp turn and finish to the net from Simon Roche pushed the lead out to nine.

Kildare mounted a late push and got another goal from Fionn Cooke to reduce the deficit, but by then Wexford’s work was done.

Dublin will be Wexford’s opponents in the semi-final after they picked up a handy 4-18 to 1-6 win over Meath at Páirc Tailteann in the other quarter-final.

A penalty goal from Joe Ennis after seven minutes gave the home side some hope, but Dublin weren’t long settling into the game, replying with a goal of their own from Callum Walsh just before the water break. Without ever exploding into life, Dublin led by 1-9 to 1-2 at half time, holding Meath scoreless for the last 20 minutes of the half.  

The boys in blue did power on in the final quarter when Denis McSweeney fired in two goals and Conor Brennan added another to push the final margin out to 21 points.