Leinster MHC- Young Cats power past Galway in free-flowing style

Kilkenny may have stumbled in their games against Wexford and Dublin this year, while they also looked very ordinary for long stretches of their quarter-final clash with Kildare at Hawkfield, but for the second time this year they defended the honour of their home province in fine style when faced up against the marauding raiders from the West, who made their debut in the Leinster MHC in 2023 and stormed back across the Shannon with the Hanrahan Cup in tow.

That won’t be happening this year after Niall Bergin’s side ruthlessly piled on the punishment in the closing stages against a demoralised Galway group, who racked up a total of 17 wides in the hour’s hurling.

And at the risk of diminishing the value of the journalistic profession by boiling down the story of a game to one key statistic, there’s no escaping the pertinence of that number.

With five minutes to play, Galway were six points behind (2-15 to 1-12) in a game where they finished up with six more wides (17 to Kilkenny’s 11) and one more chance went abegging as full forward Brian Callanan tried to force a goal that realistically, wasn’t on.

Perhaps the Ardrahan player felt, with some justification, that his team needed a spark of life, since Cillian Roche’s goal was the only score their registered since the 35th minute.

Either way, it felt like an air of resignation settled over the Galway team as soon as Callanan’s shot was blocked, and Kilkenny duly piled on the misery, adding a further 2-3 in the closing minutes to turn a clear victory into a landslide.

Overall, notwithstanding two good five-minute spells for Galway that bookended the first half, Kilkenny were the stronger team for the majority of the game.

Video analysis in advance of a Leinster final rematch with Dublin – a combination that made up the Leinster MHC final six times in the 2010s but hasn’t cropped up since 2018 – will show that Galway could have had several goals in the first half, but chances that fell to Callanan, Ciarán Leen and Stephen Keane were all flashed over the bar.

Aside from that, Kilkenny were excellent.

Oisín Henderson had a superb game up against Galway’s chief marksman in Callanan, Jack Dollard controlled the centre of the defence, Eoin Brennan was a revelation at midfield, while Bill McDermott offered physicality and craft in the key centre forward position.

The real stars of the show however were Ollie O’Donovan and Jake Mullen up front, who were equally threatening, but in very different ways.

Mullen was powerful in the air, and he could have had an early goal after fielding one mishit from David Barcoe, only to have the sliotar flicked away at the last second.

O’Donovan was impish, instinctive and a sheer joy to watch as he buzzed around with great energy, perhaps buoyed by his slightly fortunate first half escape when he received a yellow card for his altercation with Galway centre back Jonah Donnellan.

Donnellan may have initiated the flashpoint with his nudge into O’Donovan’s back, but the John Lockes player gave referee Adam Kinahan a decision to make with his flick of the hurl in response.

He stayed on and was at the heart of a lot of Kilkenny’s good play as they went from 0-3 to 0-1 behind to an 0-9 to 0-4 lead with 20 minutes gone, with Kevin Buggy, Anthony Clifford and Jason Cody all knocking over points that were impressive in different ways.

Galway again rallied before half time.

Ciarán Leen was on target three times in the half and he could have had a goal too, but at 0-10 each when the two sides took a welcome break from the warm midlands sun, the contest looked finely poised.

Then Mullen plucked a high delivery from Eoin Brennan out of the sky and slammed the ball to the net with the first play of the second half.

Galway were able to respond well, with Callanan and Jamie Ryan striking the next two points, but Kilkenny quickly struck ‘green’ a second time, and this time there was no coming back for the Connacht County.

Oisín Henderson deserves the bulk of the credit for spotting a gap between two defenders and driving through the hole with authority and purpose, before picking out O’Donovan for a simple finish.

All of a sudden, Kilkenny looked sharp and dangerous in every sector, and they started racking

up the scores.

The black and amber tide was briefly beaten back when Maloney’s long clearance broke down to Callanan and his clever pass found substitute Cillian Roche, who duly rattled the roof of the net to reduce the lead to five points, but the Cats didn’t miss a beat.

Jake Mullen set up Conor Holohan for a fine point, Ollie O’Donovan got in behind the Galway defence to bat his second goal and Kilkenny’s third, and with time running out, David Barcoe’s incisive diagonal delivery was seized by Mullen and dispatched to the net.

Kilkenny haven’t gone three consecutive years without winning a minor title since the “drought” of 1985 to 1987, and while Dublin will hope to condemn the county to another run of three barren seasons in a row, Sunday’s performance in Tullamore would suggest that things might just be falling into place at the right time for this young black and amber brigade.

Teams and Scorers

Kilkenny: Jake Mullen (2-6, 5fs); Ollie O’Donovan (2-1); Conor Holohan, Eoin Brennan (1f) (0-3 each); Bill McDermott, Anthony Clifford, Jason Cody, Kevin Buggy, Robbie Doherty (0-1 each).

Galway: Brian Callanan (2f), Ciarán Leen (0-3 each), Cillian Roche (1-0), Ronan Cahalan, Seán Moran, Eoghan Mulleady, Stephen Keane, Cathal Maloney, Jamie Ryan (0-1 each).

Kilkenny: Jake O’Doherty (Mooncoin); Bobby Brennan (Erin's Own), Larry Phelan (James Stephens), Oisín Henderson (Dicksboro); Anthony Clifford (Dicksboro), Jack Dollard (Glenmore), Mikey Rohan (Carrickshock); David Barcoe (Clara), Eoin Brennan (Erin’s Own); Kevin Buggy (Erin’s Own), Bill McDermott (James Stephens), Conor Holohan (O’Loughlin Gaels);

Ollie O’Donovan (John Lockes), Jake Mullen (Shamrocks), Jason Cody (Glenmore).

Subs: Robbie Doherty (Mooncoin) for Clifford, half-time; Cian Byrne (O’Loughlin Gaels) for McDermott, 49 mins; Eoghan Cahill (Graigue Ballycallan) for Cody, 49 mins; Conor McEvoy (James Stephens) for Brennan, 56 mins; Bill O’Shea (Dicksboro) for Buggy, 58 mins.

Galway: Seán Kelly; Gavin Maher, Dara Burke, Cathal Maloney; Brendan Fox, Jonah Donnellan,

Robert Burke; Eoghan Mulleady, Seán Moran; Ronan Cahalan, Ronan Murphy, Ciarán Leen; Brian Callanan, Stephen Keane, Jamie Ryan.

Subs: Cillian Roche for Keane, 42 mins; Eamonn McGlynn for Ryan, 47 mins; Rhys O’Connor for Fox, 47 mins; Mikey Maher for Cahalan, 51 mins; Eoin Hannon for Murphy, 58 mins.

Referee: Adam Kinahan (Offaly).