Huge prize on offer as Kilkenny Under 20's chase Leinster glory

After the Kilkenny camogie team captured Leinster honours last weekend, their hurling counterparts at minor, under-20 and senior level will look to do likewise in the coming weeks.

Mark Dowling’s under-20 side will get the ball rolling tonight (Wednesday) when they face Dublin in Portlaoise at 7.35pm (Live on TG4).

The Noresiders reached this stage with wins over Wexford, Dublin and Laois and it will be their first final appearance since they won the All-Ireland title in 2022.

Despite defeating tonight’s opponents earlier in the competition, the Dickbsoro mana t the helm is expecting a totally different Dublin challenge.

“The match we played already is completely insignificant to be quite honest as since then Dublin have had great wins against Offaly and Galway which will give them a real momentum boost going forward.

“We are under no illusions as to the challenge ahead of us but it’s great to be in it as there’s only three teams left in the All-Ireland competition now and we’ll give it everything we’ve got,” Dowling said. “We’d expect nothing less than a titanic battle”.

The Leinster showpiece comes with the added bonus of being an All-Ireland Semi-Final in all but name with Munster champions Tipperary awaiting the winner at a venue to be decided on Saturday week.

LISTEN: Derek Lyng, Mark Dowling and more - Kilkenny People Sport Podcast

After losing out in the last two Leinster semi-finals to Wexford and Offaly respectively, the opportunity is a sizeable one.

“The reality of it is that we have been very close in the last two years and the majority of the games go down to the wire.

“The win over Laois didn’t but it was still a fierce semi-final battle till we got on top after 40 or 45 minutes.

“It is satisfying to get to the final but we haven’t won anything yet and we are just on to the next stage and that's as much as it is”, Dowling continued.

It will be back to back Wednesday nights in Portlaoise for the Kilkenny team and they are eager for action according to the manager.

“The quick turnaround makes no difference to us as we didn’t play a game for over five and a half weeks so we’ll be ready for action.

“It beats watching it on TV which is what we had to do last year and we’ll look forward to facing Dublin again and we’d expect a tough game like we had in Nowlan Park a couple of weeks ago.