Offaly and Kilkenny coasted into a Leinster Senior Hurling Final meeting together, after they both won their semi-finals at Croke Park this afternoon. Over 41,000 people turned up to watch the 28th clash of Leinster rivals Wexford and Offaly. But Offaly made light work of a weak looking Wexford challenge, scoring 3-15 to Wexford's 1-8.
In comparison to Wexford, whose hurling lacked any fluency, Offaly looked strong and mobile. Indeed it looks as though the current era of Wexford hurling, which culminated with a Championship win in 1996 may have come to an end. John and Joe Dooley were both on the mark early in the first half for Offaly. But it was Brendan Murphy who scored the first Offaly goal before half time. Larry Murphy pulled a goal back for Wexford just before the break, but even at that stage the men wearing the Purple and Gold were losing touch, going in 1-8 to 1-4 down.
The second-half was all about Offaly who scored 2-7. Wexford could only reply with four points, with Paul Codd trying desperately to get them back into the match, but instead hitting a string of wides. Wexford were dealt a fatal blow with the sending-off of Liam Dunne 16 minutes into the second half for a foul on John Troy, and his absence left a gaping hole in the Wexford back line, allowing goals from Joe Errity and Gary Hannifey, which put the game beyond the men from the South-East.
Meanwhile, Kilkenny easily disposed of a tame Dublin challenge in a very one-sided affair. The Cats quickly found their rhythm with key men Charlie Carter and Stephan Grehan in inspirational form from the throw-in. Carter scored 2-3 from corner-froward as the Leinster favourites marched to an easy victory over a spirited Dublin side, who rallied towards the end to put make the score line that bit more respectable. Eddie Brennan got the final goal for the Cats. The final score was Dublin 0-10 Kilkenny 3-16.
