Kilkenny 1-25 Dublin 0-16
Jonjo Farrell stepped into the breach for Kilkenny with 1-05 in Portlaoise to secure their Leinster hurling final place over a lacklustre Dublin side.
The Cats are looking for new leaders up front in the absence of key players like Richie Power, Ger Aylward and Richie Hogan and Farrell duly delivered.
There was just a point in it at half-time in front of 10,419 but a thrilling second-half from the back to back All-Ireland champions burned off Dublin long before full-time.
Brian Cody's side scored 1-08 without replay in the third quarter including a 47th minute goal from Farrell to leave Dublin facing up to life in the qualifiers.
Kilkenny's reward is a provincial final clash with Galway or Offaly on July 3 and on this form they will fancy their chances of advancing to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Aside from Farrell, Paul Murphy, Cillian Buckley, Michael Fennelly and Walter Walsh were all superb as they hit the ground running in the Championship.
Kilkenny made a significant 11th hour change to their lineup with Robert Lennon replacing ultra experienced defender Jackie Tyrrell for his first Championship start.
There was an alteration in the Dublin team too with Ryan O'Dwyer starting up front in place of Mark Schutte.
It was O'Dwyer's first start of the year following an assault in the UK last October which left him with serious head injuries and sidelined for months.
But he played an important role in a tight, tense first-half that Kilkenny edged by 0-12 to 0-11.
Dublin only led briefly early on and were four behind approaching the break but finished with three points on the trot to claim the momentum.
Kilkenny hadn't played a competitive game since leaking 4-22 to Clare in the league semi-finals and looked like a side keen to make a point.
They put in some huge hits in the first-half and threatened to pull away from Dublin a couple of times but the Sky Blues were up to the task.
Dublin free-taker David Treacy helped himself to eight first-half points and fired over one beauty from play way out on the right wing.
All but four of Dublin's first-half scores came from placed balls while Kilkenny were better in open play.
The Fennelly brothers, Jonjo Farrell, Buckley and Padraig Walsh all split the posts.
But that strong finish to the half that yielded Dublin points from Daire Plunkett, Eamon Dillon and Treacy left just the minimum in it.
That was as good as it got for Dublin though who slipped badly out of the game in the third quarter as they leaked that huge 1-08 tally.
Free-taker TJ Reid, who finished with 10 points, was among the scorers as Kilkenny surged 0-19 to 0-11 clear before Farrell's goal that essentially killed the game.
He did well to claim a diagonal ball into the left channel and send it back with interest across Dublin 'keeper Conor Dooley.
Dublin went for goals late on but never came close as Murphy marshaled a watertight Kilkenny defence that kept a clean sheet.
Kilkenny finished strong too with late points from Michael Fennelly, Reid and Conor Fogarty to make a strong statement of their summer intentions.
Kilkenny: E Murphy; P Murphy, J Holden, R Lennon; P Walsh (0-01), K Joyce, C Buckley (0-02); C Fogarty (0-01), M Fennelly (0-03); W Walsh (0-02), C Fennelly (0-01), L Ryan; J Farrell (1-05), TJ Reid (0-10, 0-07f, 0-01 65), E Larkin.
Subs: L Blanchfield for Larkin 51, K Kelly for Ryan 60, D Cody for M Fennelly 66.
Dublin: C Dooley; E O'Donnell, C O'Callaghan, O Gough; S Barrett, L Rushe, C Crummey; D O'Connell, J McCaffrey; D Plunkett (0-01), N McMorrow, R O'Dwyer; D O'Callaghan (0-02), D Treacy (0-11, 0-10f), E Dillon (0-01)
Subs: P Ryan (0-01) for O'Dwyer h/t, O O'Rorke for McMorrow 45, N Corcoran for Gough 49, S Treacy for Barrett 58, C Bennett for O'Callaghan 70.
Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).
