Kilkenny 3-22
Galway 3-11

Henry Shefflin and Noel Hickey collected their ninth All-Ireland medals as Kilkenny had 11 points to spare over 14-man Galway in a one-sided replay at Croke Park.

Shefflin, who jointly top-scored with 0-9 (0-8 from frees), becomes the first man in the history of the GAA to win nine Celtic Crosses on the field of play, while it is also a proud day for veteran defender Hickey, who was introduced during the second half. The Cats have now won a remarkable nine Liam MacCarthy Cups under Brian Cody's watch and 34 in all.

Having been outplayed for long stages of the drawn encounter, Kilkenny showed what a great team they are by bouncing back to win this replay in emphatic fashion before an attendance of 82,274. A brace of David Burke goals propelled Galway into a 2-2 to 0-5 lead after 17 minutes, but the holders - who had failed to beat the Tribesmen in two previous attempts in this year's championship - levelled through a Richie Power strike and rallied brilliantly thereafter to take a 1-11 to 2-4 lead into the break.

Galway showed character to close the gap to three points in the third quarter, but a hugely contentious refereeing decision, which saw Cyril Donnellan have a goal disallowed, coupled with the 48th minute dismissal of the same player on a straight red card, scuppered their hopes of staging a comeback and ending a 24-year wait for All-Ireland glory.

After losing July's Leinster final to the same opposition by 10 points, this will go down as one of the Noresiders' sweetest victories. Every man in a Kilkenny jersey upped his performance considerably from the last day, while the decision to hand Walter Walsh his first championship start paid off spectacularly. The U21 star bagged 1-3 in a superb display before being replaced to a rapturous round of applause with 12 minutes remaining.

For Galway, whose supporters travelled to Jones' Road in great numbers, the long wait for hurling's big prize goes on. But they can have few complaints after letting a seven-point lead slip the last day and their failure to build on the early goals they scored this afternoon.

Their manager Anthony Cunningham now has the unwanted distinction of losing two All-Ireland final replays in the same year. He suffered the same fate with Garrycastle last March when they also lost a rematch to a team in black and amber (Crossmaglen). But he can take some consolation from the fact that he brought this Galway team a long way in the last nine months.

As in the minor final, the floodlights were on and Galway injury doubts James Skehill and Joe Canning were passed fit to take their places in goal and at full forward respectively. As expected, Kilkenny switched Cillian Buckley from wing forward to midfield before the throw-in and Richie Hogan - wearing number nine - was moved to the edge of the square.

Henry Shefflin had an early opportunity to put Kilkenny on the scoreboard after Michael Fennelly was fouled by David Collins close to the Cusack Stand sideline, but was uncharacteristically off target. The opening score eventually arrived in the sixth minute when Joe Canning converted a free from his own 65-metre line after Andy Smith was fouled by Richie Hogan.

A foul on Eoin Larkin enabled Shefflin to immediately restore parity before the Ballyhale marksman pointed another free which he had won himself to give the Cats the lead for the first time in the ninth minute. Walter Walsh, who was already proving a handful for Johnny Coen in the corner, then marked his arrival on the big stage with a point before Canning left the minimum in it from his second free after 13 minutes.

Shefflin fired over his first from play after pouncing on a loose handpass by Tony Og Regan. The game exploded into life in the 16th minute when David Burke flicked Iarla Tannian's beautifully-flighted delivery to the net for the opening goal. TJ Reid replied within seconds with Kilkenny's fifth point before Burke grabbed his second goal in the 18th minute after a brilliant passage of play which saw Cyril Donnellan field Joe Canning's long clearance out of defence and lay off possession to Damien Hayes who in turn passed to Burke who finished in style.

That made 2-2 to 0-5 in Galway's favour but, incredibly, Kilkenny were back level within a minute when Richie Power's finished the ball to the net with a one-handed strike after James Skehill could only parry Eoin Larkin's initial shot. The Galway goalkeeper was issued with a yellow card for some 'afters'.

Kilkenny kicked on from there, scoring six points without reply in a blistering spell to leave Galway shell-shocked. Larkin started the scoring sequence after Richie Hogan had brilliantly hooked Iarla Tannian. Richie Power followed up with another magnificent score before the marauding Larkin was brought down by Niall Donoghue, who received a yellow card for his troubles and was substituted a short time later.

Henry Shefflin made no mistake from the free. He then showed great vision to pick out Walter Walsh for his second point. At this stage of the game, Galway were being over-run at midfield and Shefflin put over another great score from 60 metres. In the 26th minute, Richie Hogan became the last Kilkenny forward to score, bringing their tally to 1-11 in the process.

Joe Canning pulled back a much-needed point from a free for Galway, who then had a major let-off when the out-of-sorts Skehill slipped after doing well to prevent a point. Fortunately, Kevin Hynes was on hand to spare his blushes. As half-time neared, Cyril Donnellan could have scored Galway's third goal had he not left the ball behind him. A frenetic 35 minutes of hurling ended with Canning landing a '65 with the last puck.

Skehill, who was visibly struggling during the first half with the shoulder injury he picked up in training last week, made way for Fergal Flannery for the second half. Richie Hogan opened the scoring before Andy Smith grabbed Galway's first point from play.

Shefflin made it 1-13 to 2-5 before one of the game's biggest talking points occurred. As Cyril Donnellan lashed the ball to the Kilkenny net, referee James McGrath blew his whistle for an earlier foul on Damien Hayes. Had the Westmeath official given Galway the advantage, we could have had a completely different game on our hands.

To their credit, the Tribesmen didn't let it get to them and two points from Canning in quick succession (one sideline) brought them to within three points, 2-7 to 1-13. But Galway's luck was out again when Canning saw a goal attempt strike the butt of David Herity's post and Kilkenny went straight up the field to score through Cillian Buckley. A four-point swing in less than 30 seconds!

Things went from bad to worse for the Leinster champions when Donnellan was red-carded for a wild pull on JJ Delaney, which resulted in the Fenians man having to leave the fray for treatment. With the scent of victory now in their nostrils, Kilkenny made the push for home with four unanswered scores from Richie Power, Michael Fennelly, Walter Walsh and Shefflin (free).

Tony Og Regan pulled one back for the 14 men before Walsh signed off with a 58th minute goal after Fergal Flannery had kept out TJ Reid's initial effort. Kieran Joyce followed up with his first ever championship point before Colin Fennelly - who replaced Walsh - showed great strength to hold off Johnny Coen and force home Kilkenny's third goal in the 62nd minute.

The game was up for Galway, but they kept plugging away. Canning had a free before 19-year-old substitute Johnny Glynn scored a spectacular goal. Shefflin slotted over a brace of frees before Canning also raised a couple of white flags to leave 11 points in it at the finish.

Kilkenny: David Herity; Paul Murphy, J J Delaney, Jackie Tyrrell; Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan, Kieran Joyce (0-1); Richie Hogan (0-3), Michael Fennelly (0-1); Cillian Buckley (0-1), Richie Power (1-2), Eoin Larkin; TJ Reid (0-1), Walter Walsh (1-3), Henry Shefflin (0-9, 5f, 2 '65s). Subs: Colin Fennelly (1-0) for W Walsh 59 min, Noel Hickey for Joyce 65 min, Aidan Fogarty for Reid (injured) 66 min.

Galway: James Skehill; Johnny Coen, Kevin Hynes, Fergal Moore; Niall Donoghue, Tony Og Regan (0-1), David Collins; Iarla Tannian, Andy Smith (0-1), David Burke (2-0), Niall Burke, Cyril Donnellan; Damien Hayes, Joe Canning (0-9, 5f, 1 '65, 1 sideline), James Regan. Subs: Joseph Cooney for N Donoghue 27 min, Johnny Glynn (1-0) for Regan 33 min, Fergal Flannery for Skehill (injured) half-time, Conor Cooney for N Burke 52 min, Davy Glennon for Smith 63 min.

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath). Tweet

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