Leinster SHC Round 5 KILKENNY 0-22 WEXFORD 1-18 By John Harrington at Nowlan Park

It hardly needs to be said again, but here goes – Kilkenny just don’t know when they’re beat.

Things looked bleak for them when they trailed by 1-13 to 0-7 early in the second-half, but they summoned up a storming finish to clinch their place in the Leinster Senior Hurling Final against Galway on July 1.

Perhaps the accumulated fatigue of playing a fourth match in 21 days caught up on Wexford in the second-half, but credit to Kilkenny for once again showing serious steel in the face of adversity.

Their manager Brian Cody had laid his cards on the table from the start, electing to start Richie Hogan and Colin Fennelly after naming them on the bench.

But that gamble didn’t pay of as both struggled to make the desired impact. Fennelly’s touch was a little rusty, and Hogan’s shooting was uncharacteristically poor.

But even though two of their marquee players were struggling to get to the pace of the game, the teams were very evenly matched in the first quarter.

It was helter skelter, end to end stuff, as both teams ripped into one another with relish and scored some smashing points.

A TJ Reid free edged Kilkenny ahead 0-5 to 0-4 by the 12th minute, but they wouldn’t trouble the score-board again for another 18 minutes.

In that time Wexford hit 1-6 without reply to really grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

Sweeper Shaun Murphy was hitting so much ball his arms must have been sore, and, in attack, Rory O’Connor, Conor McDonald, and Lee Chin roared into the game.

O’Connor, especially, was sensational. He hit three first half points from play, and all of them were beauties as he made space for himself with swerving runs before finishing emphatically.

The goal was scored by Paul Morris, and it was a cracker.

Lee Chin made some hard yards and off-loaded to David Dunne who bore down on goal before hand-passing the sliotar across the square to Morris.

The Wexford corner-forward pulled on it first time in the air, and the net danced.

Kilkenny weren’t nearly so effective at the other end of the field. They hit seven consecutive wides before a TJ Reid free on 30 minutes finally ended their scoring drought.

But even the normally dependable Ballyhale Shamrocks man wasn’t immune from the malaise affecting the Kilkenny forwards, as just before half-time he inexplicably drove a free wide from right in front of the posts.

Wexford went to the dressing-room leading by 1-11 to 0-7, and as if the Kilkenny supporters weren’t discombobulated enough by that, they were then treated to the sight at half-time of former Liverpool footballer Jamie Redknapp and England cricketer Freddie Flintoff trying to score penalties past former Wexford goalkeeper Damien Fitzhenry.

The duo were dressed head to toe in black and amber strips, and didn’t have much more success with their strikes than the Kilkenny forwards had in the first-half.

Brian Cody was sufficiently alarmed to make three half-time changes, taking off Hogan, Fennelly, and Conor O’Shea and replacing them with Richie Leahy, Joey Holden, and Martin Keoghan.

There was no immediate improvement in their fortunes though, as Wexford started hit the first two points of the half through Paudie Foley and Lee Chin.

But as the second-half wore on, Kilkenny finally began playing with the sort of fire and brimstone you would normally associate with them.

They were now over Wexford ball-carriers far more frequently than they had in the first half, and began forcing the Wexford defence into conceding frees with some direct running of their own.

Reid pointed three in a row before full-back Padraig Walsh really got the Kilkenny revival rocking with an inspirational point from distance.

The Kilkenny supporters had suddenly found their voice, and their team’s growing momentum became increasingly irresistible.

Three more pointed frees from Reid made it seven unanswered scores in a row for Kilkenny and reduced the gap to just two points.

A pointed Paudie Foley free briefly gave Wexford some respite, but Kilkenny quickly responded as the impressive Richie Leahy set up his fellow half-time substitute Joey Holden for a nicely executed point.

Reid then reduced the deficit to the minimum with a converted ’65 before the increasingly influential Leahy levelled the game up at 1-14 to 0-17 to a great chorus of cheers from the Kilkenny supporters.

Kilkenny were rampant now, and two inspirational points in quick succession from Enda Morrissey and Leahy pushed them two ahead with ten minutes to play.

Credit to Wexford, they battled hard from there to the finish, knowing they only needed a draw to clinch a place in the Leinster Final.

Three frees from Paudie Foley and one from Rory O’Carroll kept them within touching distance, but Kilkenny always found a way to reply in kind as Conor Fogarty and impressive sub John Donnelly (2) hit the scores that ensured the Cats held on for victory.

Scorers for Kilkenny: TJ Reid 0-11 (9f, 1 ’65), Richie Leahy 0-2, John Donnelly 0-2, Conor Fogarty 0-2, Enda Morrissey 0-1, Padraig Walsh 0-1, James Maher 0-1, Joey Holden 0-1, Eoin Murphy 0-1 (f).

**Scorers for Wexford: **Rory O’Connor 0-5 (2f), Paudie Foley 0-5 (4f), Paul Morris 1-1, Lee Chin 0-3, Conor McDonald 0-2, Diarmuid O’Keeffe 0-1, Kevin Foley 0-1.

KILKENNY: Eoin Murphy; Enda Morrissey, Padraig Walsh, Paddy Deegan; Conor O’Shea, Cillian Buckley, Paul Murphy; Conor Fogarty, James Maher; Martin Keoghan, TJ Reid, Colin Fennelly; Richie Hogan, Walter Walsh, Luke Scanlon. Subs: Richie Leahy for Richie Hogan, Joey Holden for Conor O’Shea, Martin Keoghan for Colin Fennelly (all half-time), Liam Blanchfield for Bill Sheehan (47), John Donnelly for Luke Scanlon (64).

**WEXFORD: **Mark Fanning; Damien Reck, Liam Ryan, Conor Firman; Paudie Foley, Matthew O’Hanlon, Diarmuid O’Keeffe; Kevin Foley, Shaun Murphy; Lee Chin, Aidan Nolan, David Dunne; Paul Morris, Rory O’Connor, Conor McDonald. Subs: Harry Kehoe for Kevin Foley (53), Jack O’Connor for David Dunne (54), Simon Donohoe for Diarmuid O’Keeffe (60), Shane Tomkins for Paul Morris (70).

Ref: James McGrath (Westmeath)