Storming first half enough for Dublin

WALSH CUP FINAL Dublin 2-17 Kilkenny 2-13:DUBLIN RECORDED a rare and precious victory over Kilkenny to capture the Walsh Cup at Parnell Park yesterday.

A storming first-half display had handed Anthony Daly’s men a 12-point lead and limited Kilkenny to only two points and only one score from play.

But with the wind and driving rain at their backs, Brian Cody’s Cats set about tearing that lead to shreds, and it took some heroic defending from the home side to secure their first win over Kilkenny since their Walsh Cup triumph of 2003.

“It was a great performance overall, considering we had only 18 fit players,” said Anthony Daly.

Injuries and college commitments left Dublin fielding an experimental team, while Kilkenny’s 15 bristled with All-Ireland honours.

But what Dublin lacked in experience they more than made up for in effort as they blitzed Kilkenny in the first half and should have been much farther in front than their 1-11 to 0-2 interval advantage.

With Conor Clinton starring in midfield and scoring 1-3 in the first half, and Shane Ryan scoring three from play, the Dubs took the fight to Kilkenny but also shot 10 wides and squandered at least one gilt-edged goal chance when Colin McGrath smothered a Declan O’Dwyer shot.

A TJ Reid free in the third minute and an Eoin Guinan effort from play were all Kilkenny registered as Dublin physically dominated them.

And when Daire Plunkett expertly finished a Liam Ryan move with a goal in the 46th minute, the Dubs were 2-14 to 0-5 in front.

But they wouldn’t score again until the 63rd minute as TJ Reid came out from full forward to grab control of affairs and Cody unleashed heavyweight experience off the bench to pin Dublin in defence.

When Reid drilled a free to the net in the 54th minute, and then substitute Michael Fennelly cut through the rearguard to crash a great goal in the 62nd minute, it looked as if a dramatic comeback would deny Dublin.

But Daly’s men dug deep to stop the rot and the gap never went below three points as Liam Rushe, Johnny McCaffrey and Liam Ryan led the defiant Dubs to a deserved victory.

“Neither side was at full strength but they proved to have a serious panel and their panel proved to be stronger than ours,” Cody said.

“We brought it back and the second-half performance was decent, but the game was on for 72 or 73 minutes and for the first 35 minutes we were not competing,” he added.

DUBLIN: A Nolan; R Trainor, N Corcoran, M Quilty; J Shannon, J McCaffrey (0-1, 65), S Durkin; L Rushe, C Clinton (1-4); S Ryan (0-3), L Ryan (0-1), C McCormack; D O'Dwyer (0-1), R O'Dwyer (0-6,4f), D Plunkett (1-1). Subs: D O'Callaghan for McCormack (h-t), C McCormack for Shannon, P Carton for S Ryan (both 61 mins), S Ryan for Clinton (inj, 66 mins), J Shannon for L Ryan (inj, 70 mins).

KILKENNY: C McGrath; J Dalton, N Hickey, M Kavanagh; P Murphy, J Tyrrell, C Fogarty; M Rice (0-1), J Fitzpatrick (0-1); J Mulhall (0-1), P Hogan, N Walsh (0-1); M Ruth, TJ Reid (1-6, 3f, 1 65), E Guinan (0-1). Subs: M Fennelly (1-0) for N Walsh, E Brennan for M Ruth (both 44 mins), A Fogarty (0-2) for P Hogan (52 mins).

Referee: B Gavin(Offaly).