Everything but the win!

Cats Croker bound for provincial decider

minutes.

e Noresiders reeled o the next three scores, again, all from play. TJ Reid with two and Walter Walsh with one to leave the men in black and amber 8-points up after 16 minutes of end to end action. Darragh

Eagan then made a change to the home side’s XV, with Horeswood’s Conor Foley replacing St Martin’s Joe O’Connor in the full-back line as they sought to shore things up a little. Rory O’Connor and Tom Phelan swapped points before the Slaneysiders rst major arrived. A long searching ball was claimed by Jack O’Connor and as the St Martin’s man tried to progress, it appeared the Cats defence had held him up, but Cork Whistler Colm Lyons signaled for a penalty, much to the confusion of the Huw Lawlor and Co. Lee Chin stepped forward and ri ed the dead ball past the diving Eoin Murphy and reduced the de cit for the home side to 5 points. Kilkenny were then forced to make their 3rd change of the opening period when Adrian Mullen picked up a rather nasty looking hand injury. e Shamrocks Ballyhale man was replaced by Erin’s Own’s Conor Fogarty with about 10 minutes remaining of the rst half.

TJ Reid then popped over a point from the placed ball before the home crowd were treated to their sides second major of the game. Oisin Foley went on a run before spotting the clever run of his mid elder Kevin Foley. Oisin popped the pass to Kevin who drove the sliotar past the helpless Eoin Murphy in the Kilkenny goal. e crowd went wild.

We now had a game on our hands, the gap was just 3 points. e Yellowbellies tails were up –another three points followed, Conor McDonald and Rory O’Connor from play and a free from Lee Chin. 31 minutes played and the game was level. TJ Reid brie y red the Cats back into the lead but further points from Lee Chin and Diarmuid O’Keefe saw Darragh Eagan’s side surprisingly go into the interval one point to the good on a scoreline of Wexford 2-11, Kilkenny 2-10. When play resumed in sun drenched Chadwicks Wexford Park, Kilkenny drew level early on, thanks to a lovely ‘65 from TJ Reid. e home sides version of TJ, Lee Chin then dispatched another free before Graigue Ballycallan’s Billy Ryan red over a ne point. en came major number ve. Again, Faythe Harriers Lee Chin was at the heart of the move. With his back to goal Chin managed to scoop a hand pass into the path of the on running Liam Og McGovern. e Rathangan player took aim and once again left Cats netminder with no chance, Wexford now led by 3.

Wexford’s blistering start to the second period continued with vigor. Chin popped over a ‘65, before McGovern turned goal-getter again. Billy Ryan got turned over in defence and Conor McDonald found Kevin Foley with a nicely weighted pass. e Rapparees man skillfully icked the sliotar into the path of McGovern who was halted illegally by Padraig Walsh. Referee Lyons was playing the advantage, but Liam Og had the presence of mind to bat the ball to the net. e Slaneysiders were seven points up and ying.

Derek Lyng then threw on Glenmore’s Alan Murphy in place of Billy Drennan as he looked to wrestle back control of the game. Kilkenny needed to respond and fast. Tullaroan’s Padraig Walsh then split the posts with a quality e ort. Another couple of minutes passed, then another goal. Eoin Cody picked up possession around the Wexford ‘45. e captain turned on the afterburners and sprinted towards goal. e Shamrocks man had only one thing on his mind – goal and that was the inevitable outcome.

TJ & Lee exchanged free’s before the recently introduced Alan Murphy split the posts with a quality point. Wexford full-back Liam