Kilkenny suffered a disappointing defeat to Dublin in the Allianz Hurling League final.It was Dublin’s first League title since 1939 and well deserved as they gave a superb display at Croke Park. While Kilkenny had to play over half the game with fourteen men this could not be used as an excuse as Dublin were better in almost every position registering some excellent scores while holding Kilkenny to just 1-1 from play.
Dublin started well and registered early points from Ryan O’Dwyer and Paul Ryan before Eddie Brennan’s struck for a tenth minute goal. TJ Reid sent in a long range free and, when Richie Hogan did well to catch the ball on the end line and slip it inside, Brennan was there to firea ground shot to the net from close range.
Paul Ryan regained the lead for the Dubs with a 16th minute free, and added a point from play moments later.
With the Dublin defence dominant, their forwards hit Kilkenny with a display of excellent point taking, hitting eight in succession before Kilkenny suffered a huge blow in the 25th minute when Eoin Larkin received a straight red card following a clash with Conor McCormack.
There was a controversial finish to the first half with McCormack racing through the Kilkenny defence to blast to the net, only to discover that referee Michael Wadding had blown the half-time whistle seconds earlier. Dublin led by 0-11 to 1-02 at the interval. A Kilkenny backlash was expected in the second half but never really materialised as Dublin kept the extra man close to their full back line and maintained their lead as Kilkenny were restricted to frees from T.J. Reid. In the final six minutes of added time caused by the treatment of Dublin centre back Joey Boland’s shoulder injury, the metropolitans cut loose with a string of fabulous scores from substitutes David Treacy and Simon Lambert, skipper John McCaffrey, and a long range strike from Conal Keaney.
Scorers — Dublin: P Ryan 0-9 (5f), C Keaney 0-3, R O’Dwyer, M O’Brien 0-2 each, D O’Callaghan, D Plunkett, C McCormack, J McCaffrey, D Treacy, S Lambert 0-1 each. Kilkenny: TJ Reid 0-5 (5f), E Brennan 1-0, P Hogan (1f) M Rice 0-1 each.
Dublin — G Maguire , N Corcoran , T Brady , P Kelly ,J McCaffrey , J Boland , S Durkin ; A McCrabbe , L Rushe , C McCormack , R O’Dwyer , C Keaney , D Plunkett , D O’Callaghan , P Ryan , Substitutes M O’Brien for J.Boland (44m), D O’Dwyer for D.Plunkett (55m), D Treacy 7 for A.McCrabbe (63m), S Lambert for L.Rushe (67m), S Ryan for D.O’Callaghan (72m).
Kilkenny — D Herity, J Dalton , B Hogan , N Hickey , P Hogan , J Tyrrell , JJ Delaney, TJ Reid , M Rice ,J Fitzpatrick , M Ruth , E Larkin 4, C Fennelly , E Brennan , R Hogan 5 Substitutes: M Kavanagh for JJ Delaney (56m), J Mulhall for C. Fennelly (58m), P Murphy for M.Ruth (65m).
Ref eree- M Wadding (Waterford).
By Mary Morgan Mon 2nd May
