Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Hurling quarter-final

KILKENNY 2-14 Clare 0-13

By John Fallon

Kilkenny got their Electric Ireland All-Ireland MHC quarter-final round robin series off to a winning start when they scored a deserved win over Clare at Semple Stadium.

These two will battle it out with Galway to see which two advance to the All-Ireland semi-finals and Kilkenny are now in the driving seat after this impressive victory.

A goal from Pierce Blanchfield after 23 minutes helped Kilkenny lead by 1-7 to 0-7 at half-time after an entertaining opening half.

Billy Drennan was Kilkenny’s key performer in attack and when the Clare rearguard failed to deal with a cross from him, Blanchfield pounced and found the bottom left corner of the net.

Drennan shot five points in the opening half, three of them from play and when Jack Doyle landed a point after Blanchfield’s goal, it pushed Kilkenny 1-6 to 0-4 in front.

Clare rallied before the break. Cian Galvin, who had earlier landed a free from 60 metres on the right, converted a 65 and Shane Meehan hit two points before the interval to cut the gap to a goal at the break.

Clare would have been closer but Kilkenny goalkeeper Aidan Tallis did superbly to deflect an effort from Meehan over the bar.

Tallis produced another quality save to deny Meehan less than a minute after the restart and Blanchfield turned the screw by shooting two quick points.

Clare responded with a couple of points from Conner Hegarty and another long-range free from Cian Galvin to cut the gap to 1-9 to 0-10 after 39 minutes.

But the clinching score came after 40 minutes with a superbly worked goal when Drennan’s pass was neatly flicked over his head by Andy Hickey and Colman O’Sullivan rushed through to finish it to the net.

Clare never looked like recovering from that blow and the Kilkenny rearguard held firm to seal the win.

Scorers for Kilkenny: Billy Drennan 0-9 (4f, 1 ’65), Pierce Blanchfield 1-3, Colman O’Sullivan 1-0, Jack Doyle 0-1, Timmy Clifford 0-1.

Scorers for Clare: Conner Hegarty 0-4, Shane Meehan 0-3 (2f), Cian Galvin 0-3 (2f, 1’65), Killian O’Connor 0-1, Colm O’Meara 0-1, Oisin O’Donnell 0-1.

KILKENNY: Aidan Tallis; Billy Reid, William Halpin, Tristan Roche; Peter McDonald, Pádraic Moylan, James Aylward; Andy Hickey, Denis Walsh; Pierce Blanchfield, Colman O’Sullivan, Liam Moore; Billy Drennan, Timmy Clifford, Jack Doyle. Subs: Senán Doyle for Walsh (54), Ian Byrne for O’Sullivan (54), Zach Bay Hammond for Clifford (62).

CLARE: Aaron Shanahan; Storm Devanney, Adam Hogan, Cillian McGroary; Jarlath Collins, Cian Galvin, Tony Butler; Colm O’Meara, Oisín O’Donnell; Killian O’Connor, Oisín Clune, Shane Meehan; Dylan Downes, Conner Hegarty, Diarmaid Cahill. Subs: Cormac Murphy for Clune (45), Seán Ronan for Downes (48), Shane Punch for Cahill (45), Keith Smyth for Collins (54), Callum Beirne for Butler (59).

Ref: Nathan Wall (Cork).