Kilkenny will face Offaly in the Leinster minor hurling championship final on January 3rd after both sides came through their respective semi-finals this afternoon.

The Cats delivered the second-half goods to score a come from behind victory over Wexford at Chadwicks Wexford Park, where it finished 0-23 to 1-14.

The visitors had made a flying start to move 0-5 to 0-1 in front 17 minutes in before the Model men caught fire in the run up to half-time.

Cian Byrne led the way as the hosts surged towards a 0-12 to 0-6 lead at half-time, with an outstanding save from Regan Tracey denying Kilkenny the net in the meantime.

The holders conceded the first two points of the restart but wiped them away with a goal from Luke Murphy five minutes in, making it 1-12 to 0-8.

Kilkenny would move through the gears after that, squaring things up by the 42nd minute thanks to the scores of Billy Drennan, who finished with 0-14, and they wouldn’t look back from there as Drennan, Tommy Clifford and Denis Walsh kept the scores coming until the last whistle.

In Mullingar, Offaly were comfortable in a 2-18 to 1-8 win over hosts Westmeath.

The Faithful lads had struck the opening goal after 45 seconds at TEG Cusack Park, only for David Williams to hit their net a minute later.

From there, Westmeath moved into a 1-5 to 1-1 lead and while Lochlann Quinn would narrow down the deficit with frees, it was the Lake County that led by 1-7 to 1-5 at the break.

Scores from Charlie Mitchell and marksman Quinn (one ‘65’ and one free) saw Offaly level by the 40th minute and they’d go on a run of 10 unanswered points prior to Daniel Bourke driving in their second goal on the hour mark.

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