Kilkenny now sit top of the table in group B of Division 1 after a 2-21 to 0-21 win over Waterford.
The Crystal County men made the better start to the game with Michael Kiely the first to register a score..
After 12 minutes, 4 points separated the teams on a scoreline of 7 points to Kilkenny’s 3.
Kilkenny held on though with some lovely scores from Walter Walsh and Martin Keoghan.
Austin Gleeson was on form for most of the first half but lost momentum as the game went on.
The Mount Sion man missed a sure goal opportunity that would have had the Deise men in a much safer position heading into halftime.
Soon after this, Kilkenny began to make their way back into the game and only a single point separated the teams after 20 minutes.
Killian Buckley got on the end of a David Blanchfield pass and buried the ball in the back of the net.
The Cats led by 2 points at the break on a scoreline of 1-10 to 11 points.
Kilkenny continued to punish Waterford’s silly mistakes in the 2nd half and began to dominate from the 40th minute.
Billy Ryan got the scoring underway in the second half with an excellent score from corner forward.
Walter Walsh put in a tremendous shift for the Black and Amber, scoring his third point with 20 minutes still left on the clock.
Waterford were on the back foot and looked devoid of ideas of how to cope with Kilkenny’s dominance.
Things went from bad to worse for Waterford when Billy Ryan hit the net with only 15 minutes of normal time left to play.
It was a day to forget for sub DJ Foran who made a couple of errors that resulted in Kilkenny scores. To top it all off he was red-carded with 10 minutes left to play, having received his second yellow.
Interestingly, Waterford made somewhat of a revival when they were reduced to 14 and managed to narrow the gap to 4 points with 2 minutes left on the clock.
However it was too little too late for Liam Cahill’s men and James Maher, John Donnelly and Walter Walsh all pointed just as proceedings came to a end.
The final score at UPMC Nowlan Park was Kilkenny 2-21 to 21 points.
