Kilkenny will face Wexford in the Leinster minor hurling championship final next week, seeing off Offaly in the penultimate stage on a balmy Wednesday evening in UPMC Nowlan Park.
Lining out as selected, Danny Glennon took the game’s first score with Harry Shine in tow as the youngster pulled his first two off the night give Kilkenny a 3 point lead inside two minutes.
With 10 minutes played, Kilkenny had doubled their lead with Lyng and Shine trading points to lead 0-6 to 0-3. A Harry Shine penalty in the final third pushed the Cats out to 1-8 to 0-6 with about seven minutes left in the first half, but Shine was done yet, tacking on another handful of scores to second Kilkenny into the break five points to the good on a 1-10 to 0-8 scoreline.
Offaly found the back of the net within five minutes of the restart, cutting the deficit to 3 points but captain Harry Shine continued to dominate the scoring for Kilkenny, midway through the second half helping Richie Mulrooney’s charges reclaim their five-point advantage.
Adam Screeney managed to get the ball in the back of the Kilkenny net as Offaly looks to keep pace with Kilkenny but the Cats peeled away in the last ten minutes to hit the back of the net twice and leave them with thirteen points to spare.
Shine would live up to his name and finish the game with a personal haul of 2-15.
Kilkenny could have had another two or three goals in the first half to end the game as a contest outright but they head to Netwatch Cullen Park next week to face Wexford, well deserving of their 3-23 to 1-16 victory.
Wexford beat Dubln 1-15 to 1-12 to book their place in next Wednesday’s decider.
