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Picture Courtesy Shay Hogan
DUBLIN 3-21
KILKENNY 5-19
Dublin produced a brave second-half display before eventually succumbing to Kilkenny by four points in their Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Round 4 encounter at UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon.
Both teams entered the match with full points from their three previous games but it was the hosts that preserved their perfect record with four first-half goals seemingly settling the issue in Kilkenny’s favour.
Adrian Mullen, Billy Ryan, TJ Reid and Martin Keoghan all raised green flags in that opening period with Dublin’s only positive being the five points from play registered by Cian O’Sullivan as they trailed by 4-12 to 0-10 at half-time.
A Seán Currie goal within four minutes of the restart saw the visitors offer hopes to their supporters and further goals from Currie and O’Sullivan either side of the three-quarter mark helped Dublin close the gap to three points at one stage.
Unfortunately, they never managed to narrow their deficit further with a Ryan goal in the 70th minute of huge relief to Kilkenny by the final whistle.
A point inside twelve seconds by O’Sullivan allowed the Dubs to settle quickly with Mullen restoring parity for the hosts in an instant.
O’Sullivan popped over two further scores by the 4th minute and after an almighty scramble and numerous recycles around the home goal, Seán Currie calmly fired over to leave Dublin two points clear by the 7th minute.
Points by TJ Reid and Martin Keoghan levelled matters by the 10th minute and the hosts opened up a three-point gap five minutes later as a long free from Cian Kenny slipped through Conor Burke’s grasp, allowing Mullen the simplest of tasks of poking home from close range.
Matters deteriorated for Dublin at the end of the first quarter as a quickly-taken sideline ball allowed Ryan through on goal and Eddie Gibbons was left helpless by a powerful shot from twelve metres.
O’Sullivan was excelling at the opposite end of the field, picking up pockets of space with great regularity and his fifth point from play brought Dublin back to within three points by the 20th minute.
Further scores from Darragh Power and Conor Donohoe allowed Dublin to keep their opponents in their sights but gradually the Cats moved into the distance with TJ Reid’s mishit shot wrongfooting Gibbons in the 29th minute.
It was of little surprise to see Keoghan add a fourth goal before the interval with a trio of Reid frees pushing the hosts fourteen points clear by half-time.
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