Kilkenny 1-21
Laois 0-16

Kilkenny finished with eight points to spare over Laois in this evening's Leinster MHC semi-final at O'Moore Park.

The black and ambers had the better of the first half exchanges and went in with at the break with a 0-13 to 0-9 advantage.

It was all to play for, however, for Laois as they were turning around to play with the wind in the second-half and Pat Critchley's side would have had every reason to fancy their chances of pulling off an upset.

And they certainly put it up to their more illustrious opponents after the resumption but they suffered a fatal blow when conceding a goal to Alan Murphy and Kilkenny managed to keep them at a safe distance in the time that remained.

The young Cats will renew acquaintances with Dublin in the decider on Sunday, July 6th and will be hoping to reverse the 11-point quarter-final defeat they suffered at the hands of the metropolitans.

Kilkenny - D Brennan; C Doheny, C Delaney, C McGrath; D Mullen, J Cleere, D Joyce; C Browne (0-2), L Scanlon (0-3); S Morrissey (0-2), D O'Connor, B Ryan; R Corcoran (0-1), L Blanchfield (0-2), A Murphy (1-9, 0-7f). Subs: E Kenny for D O'Connor, R Butler for C Browne, J Walsh (0-1) for R Corcoran, J Keoghan (0-1) for B Ryan, R Donnelly for L Blanchfield.

Laois - P Simms; D Hartnett, R Mullaney, E Cuddy; C Phelan, L O'Connell (0-1f), L Cleere; D Cahill, J Lennon; A Corby, K Bergin (0-1), R Phelan (0-1); M Kavanagh (0-9, 7f, 1'65), A Mortimer (0-2), A Dunphy (0-2). Subs: S Downey for D Cahill, R Saunders for A Dunphy, J Kelly for L Cleere.

Referee - M Murtagh. Tweet

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