Kilkenny face a battle for Division 1A survival after suffering their fourth defeat of the league campaign against arch-rivals Tipperary
The Cats, who were without their Ballyhale Shamrocks contingent as they prepare for Tuesday’s AIB GAA Club Championship final, find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table after a 12-point hammering in Thurles.
Seamus Callanan was the tormentor-in-chief with 1-7, while Richie Hogan fired nine points for the Cats.
The game roared into action with both sides finding the back of the net inside the opening four minutes. Jonjo Farrell turned the ball in for Kilkenny before Callanan levelled matters moments later.
From there, Tipperary forged ahead, with only some fine scores from Hogan keeping the All-Ireland champions in touch, but a scoring burst as they headed to half-time gave the hosts a 1-16 to 1-9 advantage to take back to the dressing-room.
Kilkenny’s chances of a comeback were snuffed out on 41 minutes when Darren Gleeson saved a Hogan penalty and when Niall O’Meara found the net it was game over as Tipperary ran out 2-22 to 1-13 winners.
The win sees Tipp claim a quarter-final place, while the Cats must now battle Clare next week in a potential relegation play-off audition.
The other Division 1A game saw Galway host Cork in a dramatic encounter in Salthill. A cagey first half saw Cork seize the initiative with the first of two Paudie O’Sullivan strikes, which gave them a 1-10 to 0-10 half-time advantage.
The Tribesmen fought back gamely after the break, reeling off five points in a row to take the lead at 0-18 to 1-13, but O’Sullivan seized on a defensive error for his second green flag to put the Rebels back in front.
Galway continued to press and, they thought they had scored the goal needed for a draw when Jason Flynn had the ball in the net deep into injury time only for the effort to be ruled out for a square ball.
In Division 1B, Waterford obliterated Antrim, 4-30 to 1-10 to stay top of the table. Stephen Bennett and his replacement Maurice Shanahan combined to score 3-9 for the Deise, while Pauric Mahony tapped over 11 points of his own.
Wexford also had a convincing success in Portlaoise as they ran out 0-25 to 5-22 victors over Laois, Conor McDonald finding the net twice.
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