Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) 3-24
St Rynagh's (Offaly) 2-18
Holders and strong favourites Ballyhale Shamrocks lived dangerously in Tullamore, conjuring a stoppage time Eoin Cody goal to force extra-time before belatedly securing their AIB Leinster club SHC final spot.
Cody finished with 2-03 in total for the back-to-back provincial and All-Ireland holders, though they will kick themselves for making life so difficult for the second weekend in a row.
Just like their strong start and fade out against Mount Leinster Rangers last weekend, James O'Connor's side roared nine points clear initially at Bord na Mona O'Connor Park, but were reeled in and ultimately required that Cody goal to force extra-time.
Ballyhale played the entire second-half of normal time with 14 players following Joe Cuddihy's straight red card for a high challenge and the forward will miss next Sunday's Croke Park final against Clough Ballacolla.
Once restored to 15 players for extra-time, Shamrocks thrived and outscored their deflated opponents by 0-11 to 0-2 to advance with ease.
It will go down as a massive missed opportunity for Ken Hogan's Rynagh's who were unable to clear their lines when Cody swooped in a crowd of players to drill that levelling goal.
Ballyhale will wonder how they ended up making life so difficult for themselves yet again. They led by nine points at half-time of last weekend's game and this time around had surged nine clear with just 15 minutes on the clock.
Colin Fennelly, quiet against the Carlow champions and held scoreless, looked like a player with a point to prove this time.
He won a free for Kilkenny's first point, scored by TJ Reid, and then after Cody had netted from the right in the fifth minute the full-forward managed to grab a goal himself shortly after.
It was from the resulting puck-out after Cody's goal that a move developed that ended with Fennelly redirecting a Cuddihy shot to the Offaly net.
Fennelly won another free for Reid to convert and when the two Codys, Brian and Eoin, also pointed the holders led by 2-04 to 0-01.
They retained that nine-point advantage at the water break and it looked as good as over at that early stage for the hosts.
The break in play clearly favoured Rynagh's because they returned a different team and, allied to a drop in intensity and some over elaboration from Ballyhale, the game quickly turned around.
St Rynagh's won the second quarter by 1-05 to 0-02 with top scorer Luke O'Connor's 23rd minute goal central to the comeback.
Stephen Quirke fed O'Connor who, under pressure from behind, shortened his hurl and batted a finish to the bottom left hand corner beyond goalkeeper Dean Mason.
Cuddihy's dismissal three minutes into stoppage time, for a high challenge on Matthew Maloney, was another huge boost for Rynagh's who trailed by just 1-08 to 2-08 at half-time.
Rynagh's won the third quarter too and suddenly looked the better team, outscoring the Shamrocks by 0-06 to 0-03 in the period up until the second water break.
Paul Quirke was terrific in this spell, shooting three points, and helping to level the game at 1-14 to 2-11.
With an extra body in defence, Rynagh's gobbled up most of the loose ball and restricted Ballyhale to scraps.
It didn't help that 10-times Leinster winners Ballyhale blasted six second-half wides and they were further rocked by a Ronan Hughes goal in the 48th minute.
Sub Aaron Kenny did the spadework with a pass across goals from the right endline and Hughes finished well.
It left Rynagh's three points clear and they retained that lead deep into stoppage time but Kilkenny teams rarely go down easily and Cody struck right at the death, pouncing on a loose ball following a Richie Reid delivery from a 65 to force extra-time at 2-16 to 3-13.
The extra-time was surprisingly one sided with Ballyhale restricting Rynagh's to just two points, both from frees.
At the other end, Adrian Mullen and Eoin Cody struck 0-02 each while Eoin Reid, Ronan Corcoran, Eoin Kenneally and Brian Cody were all on the mark too as the game petered towards an inevitable conclusion.
Ballyhale Shamrocks: Dean Mason; Kevin Mullen, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin (0-02), Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Ronan Corcoran (0-02), Eoin Kenneally; Brian Cody (0-03), TJ Reid (0-07, 0-05f), Eoin Cody (2-03); Adrian Mullen (0-05), Colin Fennelly (1-00), Joe Cuddihy.
Subs: Patrick Mullen for Kenneally 50, Darren Mullen for Butler 53. E Reid (0-01) for Cuddihy (red carded) e/t, Kenneally (0-01) for Fennelly 62, Conor Phelan for Shefflin 71,
St Rynagh's: Conor Clancy; Conor Hernon, Pat Camon, Stephen Wynne; Matthew Maloney, Ben Conneely, Dermot Shortt; Aidan Treacy (0-03, 0-02f), Joseph O'Connor; Paul Quirke (0-04), Simon Og Lyons, Gary Conneely; Luke O'Connor (1-08, 0-06f), Sean Dolan, Stephen Quirke (0-01).
Subs: Ronan Hughes (1-02) for Camon (4), Aaron Kenny for G Conneely 41, Ciaran Flannery for S Quirke 63. S Quirke for Flannery e/t, Flannery for S Quirke 69, Niall Wynne for Kenny 69, Brian Rigney for Lyons 76.
Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin).
