Pierce Blanchfield of Kilkenny in action against James Aylward of Kildare during the Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship Semi-Final match between Kildare and Kilkenny at St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge, Kildare.
Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship
WEXFORD 2-16 DUBLIN 0-19
KILKENNY 2-20 KILDARE 0-15
Wexford and Kilkenny will contest the 2019 Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Final after semi-final wins over Dublin and Kildare respectively.
A storming start was the key to Wexford’s win as they tore into a 2-10 to 0-5 lead over Dublin by the 29th minute.
Rathnure club-man, AJ Redmond, did a lot of damage for the winners, hitting 1-6 from placed balls in the first-half alone.
His goal was an 18th minute 20-metre free, and Wexford’s second major followed just before half-time when Dylan O’Neill struck from close-range.
Dublin were much better in the second-half and steadily whittled down Wexford’s lead, but they could never quite manage to score the goal they badly needed.
Wexford were really on the ropes in the final few minutes, but they just about kept the late Dublin charge at bay.
In the day’s other semi-final Kildare were massive underdogs against Kilkenny but got off to a very good start and led by 0-4 to 0-3 after 12 minutes with David Qualter especially impressive.
Kilkenny then enjoyed a purple match that effectively decided the match in their favour as they hit a scoring burst of 2-5 that helped them into a 2-11 to 0-6 half-time lead, with the goals coming from Tommy Clifford and Colman O’Sullivan.
Kildare’s effort never wavered, though, and they held their own impressively with the Cats in the second-half as both teams hit nine points each.
Kilkenny march on to the Leinster Final, but the future of Kildare hurling looks bright on the basis of what their minors produced in this year’s Leinster championship.
