Kilkenny 1-19 Galway 1-15
Kilkenny and Wexford just can’t get away from one another.
After last Sunday’s minor and senior double for Wexford, Kilkenny will have a chance to get one back on their neighbours in the Leinster under-20 final in the coming weeks.
With Wexford having beaten Offaly on Wednesday night, it was all down to Kilkenny to make it a third final in succession between the counties and they stayed to script in O’Connor Park.
With Galway the opposition, Kilkenny had the measure of their opponents the whole evening long and though the Tribesmen rallied late on, DJ Carey’s side always looked to have that bit in reserve.
Whenever Galway put the pressure on, the Cats went down the other end and scored a point without breaking sweat. The team who can get their scores easier usually win the game and Kilkenny had more economical forwards who could conjure a handy point out of nothing.
Chief among them is Ballyhale Shamrocks star Eoin Cody. The St Kieran’s College student was exceptional for his club in their All-Ireland winning run and he’s still on form a couple of months on.
He tapped over a couple of fine points but the highlight was undoubtedly his match-winning intervention in the 43rd minute. With Brian Cody watching on, his namesake scored a goal that you’d associate with those legendary Kilkenny forwards of old.
He won a clinker of a ball over his Galway marker before racing through and finishing off with some killer instinct.
The catch 👌
The speed off the mark ⚡️
The dummy 🌪️
The change of hands 🔥
The shorten of the grip and the finish off the hurl 🌡️
That's some goal from Eoin Cody of @BallyhaleGAA pic.twitter.com/VZzvDBg42K
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 4, 2019
That put Kilkenny seven up with just 20 minutes remaining and though Galway did put on some pressure, with John Fleming leading the charge, they never really looked like recovering.
It was far from just an Eoin Cody show for the Cats though. Conor Heary was a rock in the half back line for them while further forward, Niall Brassill and Aaron Brennan caught the eye.
Adrian Mullen did what was needed of him, winning a couple of balls and frees when Galway were threatening. Sean Neary scored a late goal for them but it was too little too late.
Kilkenny needed this. So too did Galway who are going through a rough patch at the moment. But it was the Cats who were better equipped tonight.
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