Kilkenny canter to 62nd title

Kilkenny 1-23 Wexford 2-12: It was hardly unexpected, but none the more palatable for that. Kilkenny comfortably held on to their Guinness Leinster hurling championship at Croke Park yesterday after a match that only rarely held out the promise of being competitive.

Wexford's shock win over the champions in 2004 has conditioned us to hope that there's always a chance of something happening when the counties meet, but that's to forget that there were 11 points between the sides three years ago and 13 two seasons before that.

Yesterday, was a reversion to those sort of matches.

Although Kilkenny by recent standards haven't their most settled team at this stage of the championship, the holders never had to reach very deep into themselves to win in a canter.

There were two phases of the match when Wexford exerted some pressure, but they failed to turn the screw and Kilkenny recovered so effortlessly that it was hard to imagine them being in serious trouble.

The challengers were dismayed by the inaccuracy of their shooting with 10 first-half wides effectively feeding their slim hopes of success into the incinerator. That failure to get Kilkenny's defence on the run had consequences up the field with a constant flow of ball setting up chances by the barrel-full for the champions.

Among the opportunities squandered was an uncharacteristically wayward penalty from Damien Fitzhenry, who presumably hadn't made the long trek to the other square in order to blast over a point. That 25th-minute chance could have cut the margin to a point.

Instead, Kilkenny went on a scoring drive in the six minutes before the break and knocked over five unanswered points.

In case that suggests that Wexford were in some way unlucky, it shouldn't be forgotten, however, that Kilkenny could have been considerably farther ahead by half-time. A dropping ball from Michael Rice was batted out by Fitzhenry and Eoin Larkin picked up possession and fed Shefflin who put his chance wide, as the umpire was surely reaching for his green flag.

A couple of other atypical wides from Shefflin - he had four in all during the first half - buttressed the sense of the match being more of an unwinding process for Kilkenny, knocking the rust off their machinery ahead of the quarter-finals.

But Shefflin had already contributed a peach of a goal in the 19th minute. This came from a previous high delivery from Rice, which was latched on to by Martin Comerford, whose run on goal opened up space. An inviting hand-pass held in the air and Shefflin, with a calm appraisal of a fast-closing defender, hit the sliotar on the full and pushed Kilkenny 1-4 to 0-3 ahead.

Six minutes passed with no further scores before Wexford got the penalty when Eoin Quigley was fouled by JJ Delaney. They could really have done with the goal, but Fitzhenry's high shot left them three points in arrears and in what seemed like a trice, Eddie Brennan, Comerford twice, Shefflin and Brennan again tacked on a succession of points to place any likely recovery in the realms of a miracle.

The reams of missed chances must have contributed to an unhappy Wexford dressingroom at half-time, a frustration all the more acute considering they had recovered from an unpromising start. The lack of buzz in the atmosphere at the start of the match reflected the absence of thunderous collisions and intense confrontation that usually signals the underdogs mean business.

Yet, after three points in the opening six minutes, Kilkenny looked to have fallen prey to the general ennui. Then, with a bang in the space of two minutes, Wexford pulled the match level with three points from Rory Jacob, Quigley and a whopping free from Declan Ruth.

It suggested that Wexford had found the lighter and the half backs, beleaguered for most of the match, began to push with Richie Kehoe showing well. But the only other score they managed before the interval came form the penalty. Kilkenny hit 1-6 despite not going full throttle.

The second threatened revival came on the restart.

Stephen Doyle was entrusted with the frees after Rory Jacob's unhappy first half and rattled over three of them in the opening seven minutes of the second half.

Then, in the 45th minute, it looked like 'game on'. A tenacious clearance from Keith Rossiter got Rory Jacob on to the ball and he sped off on a solo through an open defence. With the excellent Tommy Walsh in quick pursuit, the Wexford forward finished cleanly to leave only two points between the teams, 1-8 to 1-10.

If you were looking for proof that Kilkenny had over-stayed themselves mentally in the dressingroom, strong evidence came in their response to the threat.

James 'Cha' Fitzpatrick replied immediately with a point and six more followed unanswered in 10 minutes to leave Wexford's goal cancelled out and the deficit broadened even further.

It could have been more, but for a superb flying-tackle by Malachy Travers on a goal-bound Eoin Larkin - to cap a frustrating and scoreless afternoon for the latter - that knocked the ball away. Then an aerial challenge by Shefflin on Fitzhenry sent the sliotar bobbling towards the net. David 'Doc' O'Connor stopped it on the line but his clearance went straight to Comerford for a point.

So the sequence continued until Michael Jacob - who rifled an impressively taken 1-4, even if 1-1 came with the match wrapping up, after being introduced as a second-half replacement - pointed in the 57th minute.

Kilkenny's replacements were also effective. Michael Fennelly energised centrefield while Richie Power showed that he was on the way back after injury by taking three points during his 15-minute cameo.

But Kilkenny had safely negotiated the flashpoints whereas Wexford had failed to ignite.

KILKENNY: 1. J McGarry; 2. D Cody, 3. JJ Delaney, 4. N Hickey; 5. J Tyrrell (capt; 0-1), 6. J Tennyson, 7. T Walsh; 8. D Lyng (0-1), 9. R Mullally (0-1); 10. E Brennan (0-2), 11. J Fitzpatrick (0-2), 12. M Rice (0-1); 13. M Comerford (0-4), 14. E Larkin, 15. H Shefflin (1-7, 0-5 from frees). Subs: 20. M Fennelly (0-1) for Mullally (46 mins), 27. R Power (0-3) for Larkin (56 mins), 22. W O'Dwyer for Fitzpatrick (64 mins).

WEXFORD: 1. D Fitzhenry (0-1, penalty); 3. D O'Connor, 4. K Rossiter (capt.), 2. M Travers; 5. R Kehoe, 6. D Ruth (0-1, free), 7. D Lyng; 11. 8. D Stamp, 9. C Kenny; 10. R McCarthy, 8. E Quigley (0-1), 12. PJ Nolan; 13. S Doyle (0-3), 15. M Jordan, 14. R Jacob (1-2). Subs: 22. MJ Furlong for Jordan (half-time), 21. M Jacob (1-4) for Kenny (half-time), 23. M Doyle for Nolan (60 mins). Yellow cards: Travers (20 mins), Lyng (40 mins), Ruth (68 mins).

Attendance: 44,081.

Referee: D Kirwan (Offaly).