ANOTHER shattering blow to Kilkenny's dwindling hurling stock. The early championship dismissal of their seniors was added to by a second bad beating for their minors on the All Ireland scene inside 12 months.

This hammering, in the All Ireland semi final at Croke Park yesterday, was as emphatic as the score would suggest. The skills did not seem to have diminished that much but the will to win usually associated with Kilkenny teams in Croke Park was singularly absent.

After 16 minutes play Galway looked comfortable when leading by 2-6 to 0-2. Ronan Cullinane and Aidan Poniard had hammered home the goals, Cull inane with the boot from inside a suspect Kilkenny rearguard.

Galway made a mockery of the concept that a team cannot survive without suitable competitive action en route to the All Ireland series.

Real plus marks for Kilkenny started to develop when they were wind assisted in the second half. John Hickey scored a dubious looking goal from close in to inject a little confidence.

But those plus marks were not enough, especially when Galway goalkeeper Nigel Murray was in such good form, with saves from substitute Sean Millea and Raymie Cahill. It was largely a chastening experience for the Leinster champions, especially for those members of the team that suffered humiliation last year.

Kilkenny, to their credit, tried to turn the tide, but without the levels of dash and determination that Galway possessed throughout the 60 minutes.

The losers reduced the deficit to three points 10 minutes into the second half.

That improvement was due in the main to the accuracy of full forward Jimmy Coogan. He had three excellent points and Cahill - Kilkenny's other effective forward - added another point to get the score down to 2-9 to 1-9.

It was hardly surprising when Coogan's Galway counterpart, Eugene Cloonan, reopened Galway's account 12 minutes into the second half.

Subsequently, each time Kilkenny threatened to reduce the deficit it was Cloonan who fended them off with sniping points. When the advantage dropped to three points he made it four. When Galway's lead was six points he made it seven.

Aidan Poniard had his second goal for Galway 16 minutes into the second half. He was another bright spark in a Galway attack in which all six players contributed to the scoreboard.