Wexford hurlers know well that no Kilkenny team is beaten until the final whistle blows and this was once again proven in the Leinster minor final at Croke Park yesterday.
The Slaneysiders were in total control from midway through the first half until the interval. A succession of points from Leon O'Connell (three), Des Mythen (two) and M J Furlong stretched a one-point lead to seven. Gordon Byrne put Kilkenny into the lead with the first of his three points and the game went score for score until O'Connell's second point in the 19th minute signalled a rush of Wexford scores.
At the break, Wexford must have been confident of ridding themselves of the Kilkenny bogey when they led 0-8 to 0-3. However, Kilkenny had other ideas and slowly made inroads on the deficit. Eddie Walsh and Kieran Rafter's efforts were cancelled out by an O'Connell free and a Ray Freeman point in the 39th minute.
After that, Wexford failed to score until a minute into extra time. Rafter put Kilkenny level in the 56th minute but once again, O'Connell pointed only for Kilkenny's Michael Phelan to tie the game up in injury time.
Wexford: M White; P Donoghue, D O'Connor, E Kavanagh; L Gleeson, D Conway, J McDonald; D Lyng, P Doyle (0-1); A O'Leary, M J Furlong (0-1), B Lambert; L O'Connell (0-6, 4 frees, 1 sideline cut), R Freeman (0-2), D Mythen (0-3). Subs: D Stamp for Lyng (17 mins); P Kavanagh for Furlong (53 mins).
Kilkenny: D Herity; N Grogan, J Tyrrell, B Murphy; T Murphy (0-1), C Hickey, J J Delaney; C O'Neill, B Barry; E McCormack, Gordon Byrne (0- 3), P Reid; M Phelan (0-4, all frees), K Rafter (0-2), E Walsh (0-1). Subs: D Dowling for Reid (half time); Gerry Byrne (0-2) for Barry (43 mins).
Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).
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