MHC: Kilkenny 3-06 Galway 0-13

Substitute Danny Purcell broke Galway hearts at Croke Park this afternoon as he struck a late haul of 1-01 to inspire Kilkenny to their first All-Ireland minor hurling title since 2003.

Richie Mulrooney's charges went 26 minutes of the second half without registering a score before Purcell knocked over a point and then, two minutes from time, the Mooncoin youngster grabbed the final's clinching goal.

Kilkenny certainly got the lucky breaks as they scored a fortuitous opening goal through Joe Brennan, and their captain Thomas Breen also netted off the rebound of a long, hopeful ball.

2-05 to 0-06 in arrears at half-time, Galway will have felt aggrieved as they had played much of the hurling with speedster Bernard Burke in flying form.

But Mattie Murphy's side responded brilliantly in the second half, as successive points from David Burke (0-03), Niall Burke (0-02), Donal Fox and Richie Cummins had them 0-13 to 2-06 ahead.

They looked to have the game within their grasp until Purcell proved an inspired substitution and steered his county to the top of the Minor Championship roll of honour - Kilkenny's 19th success at this grade puts them one ahead of Cork and Tipperary (18 each).

The Cats came into the final brimming with confidence, particularly after their 3-17 to 1-14 semi-final mauling of three in-a-row hopefuls Tipperary.

Both Kilkenny and Galway went with unchanged line-ups, with the youngsters from the west hoping to add to their county's minor wins of 2000, 2004 and 2005.

Galway's chances of success this year were played down somewhat, but they were worthy semi-final winners over Cork, impressing all over the pitch with Richie Cummins scoring 1-05 from play.

Captained by David Burke, who is in his third year on the panel, Galway got off to the better start today and were 0-05 to 0-02 to the good after a quarter-of-an-hour.

Defences were on top in the early stages and the game was scoreless for six minutes until Joe Brennan, Kilkenny's eight-point hero against Tipp, landed a free.

Bernard Burke sniped onto a loose ball just a minute later to steer over Galway's opening point and the nippy full-forward, playing in a roaming role, doubled his side's tally before Brennan pointed his second free.

Then Galway hit overdrive as Niall Burke scored from centre-field after some neat interplay between the half-forwards, and a strong solo run from Cummins earned a free which Niall Burke dispatched over the crossbar.

Bernard Burke then used his pace to win a free which Niall Burke scooped through the posts, putting three points between the sides.

However, disaster struck for Galway in the 17th minute when what was clearly a point attempt from Brennan from the right arced its way into the top left corner of the net, deceiving goalkeeper Fergal Flannery.

It was the first goal Galway had conceded in this year's Championship and a bitter pill to swallow after their lively opening.

Credit to Kilkenny though, they began to take their chances, and although Bernard Burke flicked over his third point after another elusive run, the Cats were soon back on terms for the fourth time.

Midfielder Cathal Kenny sent an excellent sideline cut through the uprights and Kilkenny piled on the pressure by scoring another 1-02 before half-time.

Rory Hickey won a free which Brennan pointed for a 1-04 to 0-06, score-line and that was quickly followed by Breen's 29th-minute goal.

The Kilkenny skipper struck a ground ball to the net after a long, searching ball from Richard Doyle had caught the Galway defence napping.

Both goalkeeper Flannery and defender Ronan Burke rose to try and take the dropping ball, but Martin Gaffney got in to disrupt them, and with the sliotar breaking away to the right, Breen was perfectly placed to rasp it to the net.

It was cruel on the Galway defence, as their full-back line, especially corner-back Declan Connolly, had hardly put a foot wrong in the first 35 minutes.

Into injury-time, Kilkenny's Peter McCarthy followed up with a late point after swooping onto a sideline ball in from Kenny.

Galway needed a flying start to the second half and they almost got it when Bernard Burke danced along the end line, displaying his footballing skills, and set up a goal-scoring chance for Niall Burke.

Unfortunately, the wing-forward fluffed his lines and struck a fresh air shot with the goal gaping in front of him.

Galway did steady themselves, however, with David Burke landing the resulting '65' and Donal Fox also got onto a breaking ball to swing over a point.

Despite their failure to score for much of the second period, Kilkenny threatened at intervals, and Walter Walsh had a goal on his mind when he powered through the Galway rearguard in the 34th minute.

Nevertheless, a strong challenge from Flannery saw the Kilkenny centre-forward fail to get his shot away and the Galway supporters breathed a sigh of relief.

At the other end, the Tribesmen were beginning to find their rhythm. Niall Burke notched a point after being set up by substitute Brian Flaherty and after a couple of wides, Niall Burke set up David Burke for a neat point off his left.

The latter then levelled the sides at 2-05 to 0-11 after he was found in acres of space by substitute Martin Dolphin.

The tide was really turning as Kenny and Breen took Kilkenny's wides tally to eight and Niall Burke and Cummins hit two points in the space of a minute to leave Galway 0-13 to 2-05 ahead, with 13 minutes remaining.

All the individual battles were being won by Galway at this stage, and as they tagged on three further wides, a brilliantly-executed hook by Niall Donoghue on Brennan as he was just about to pull the trigger emphasised Galway's growing belief.

On 56 minutes, substitute John Cannon almost sniffed out a goal but his shot off the deck went the wrong side of the left post.

The danger, as with all Kilkenny teams, is that they have the ability to pick off crucial scores with the minimum of effort and so it proved in the 'Championship' minutes.

Substitute Purcell raced into space and pointed off his right to put his name to Kilkenny's first point of the second half and keep his side in contention.

His vital 58th-minute goal came out of nothing really, as referee Cathal McAllister threw in a hop ball close to the Galway square, Kilkenny snaffled it and a quick hand-pass put Purcell within range and he made no mistake from just yards out.

It was a deflating score for Galway to concede so late. They never recovered as Kilkenny maintained that two-point gap, and held on for the win, even if on the balance of play, they were second best.

Kilkenny: E Murphy; D Healy, M Walsh, A Cuddihy; M Moloney, R Doyle, C Fogarty; C Kenny (0-01, 1sl), J Gannon; J Brennan (1-03, 3f), W Walsh, R Hickey; P McCarthy (0-01), T Breen (capt) (1-00), M Gaffney.

Substitutes: M Dwyer for Gaffney (38 mins), D Purcell (1-01) for Gannon (54), C Maher for Hickey (57).

Galway: F Flannery; D Connolly, R Burke, G O'Halloran; N Donoghue, D Cooney, R Foy; D Burke (capt) (0-03, 1 '65'), D Fox (0-01); A Dolan, N Quinn, N Burke (0-05, 2f); R Cummins (0-01), B Burke (0-03), D Glennon.

Substitutes: B Flaherty for Dolan (8-10 mins, blood sub), B Flaherty for Foy (half-time), M Dolphin for Glennon (39), J Cannon for Quinn (40), L Madden for Fox (53).

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork).