THAT WAS SUCH A MART IDEA
Keoghan’s late inclusion helps fire Cats to a big win
KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, C Delaney, T Walsh; M Carey, R Reid, P Deegan; A Mullen (0-5), A Murphy (0-3); W Walsh, TJ Reid (1-7, 0-5f), P Walsh; C Kenny (0-4), M Keoghan (2-1), E Cody (0-2). Subs: J Donnelly (0-1) for W Walsh h/t, B Ryan (0-1) for P Walsh 48, C Fogarty for Murphy 59, C Buckley (0-1) for Mullen 65, D Blanchfield for Butler 68. DUBLIN: S Brennan; J Madden, E O’donnell, C O’callaghan; D Ryan, P Smyth, D Gray (0-1); C Burke (0-2), C Crummey (0-1); D Burke (0-9, 7f), R Mcbride (0-1), D Sutcliffe; F Whitely (0-1), R Hayes, A Mellett. M Schutte (0-1) for Mellett 33, E Dillon (0-1) for Hayes 55, A Dunphy for Gray 59, J Bellew or O’donnell 63, D Keogh for Mcbride 65. REFEREE: T Walsh (Waterford).
BY MARTIN KEOGHAN netted twice to leave Leinster SHC title holders Kilkenny on the brink of qualification for another provincial final.
Keoghan wasn’t named to start initially but was one of four late additions to the line-up and repaid boss Brian Cody’s faith with a 2-1 haul.
Keoghan’s first goal separated the sides at half-time and his second after 47 minutes moved them six ahead and broke Dublin’s resolve.
TJ Reid took over then, striking a third goal for Kilkenny and the Ballyhale Shamrocks icon finished with 1-7.
There were thrilling performances too from Adrian Mullen and Cian Kenny who scored 0-9 between them.
Mullen is best known as a forward but is thriving at midfield while Kenny, who previously played for the Cats in midfield, had a stormer up front.
Kilkenny reeled off the last nine points of the game and outscored Dublin by 1-11 to 0-3 after the second goal as the hosts caved in.
The 17-point win leaves Kilkenny knowing that if they beat Wexford at Nowlan Park next Saturday then they’re through to the final.
Cats boss Cody said: “It was a decent display for sure, the scoreboard would suggest that. We knew we’d have to have a massive workrate coming up here and that’s the most satisfying thing of all, the workrate we put in. It was at a very high level.”
All is not lost for Dublin because if they beat Galway in Salthill on the same evening, then they’ll definitely be through too. Keoghan and
Kenny joined Eoin Cody in a new-look Kilkenny fullforward line that caused Dublin real trouble.
Kenny sniped three of Kilkenny’s first four points and the Cats reeled off four scores in a row between the 13th and 20th minutes, moving 0-7 to 0-5 clear.
After wins over Laois, Wexford and Westmeath, it was Dublin’s biggest challenge of the campaign and they rose to it initially.
The sides were level six times in total in a frantic first half before Keoghan struck his 28th minute goal.
Keoghan showed his class with a neat chop-flick up to gain possession on the right of goals before releasing a low shot that beat Dublin goalkeeper Sean Brennan.
The goal stood between the teams at half-time as Kilkenny led 1-11 to 0-11 and the threepoint margin remained after 46 minutes.
That’s when Keoghan struck for his second goal, a decisive score.
Reid did brilliantly to bide his time on the right before playing a pass to Keoghan who struck from a central position, about 15 metres out.
The strike seemed to suck all of Dublin’s confidence and they only scored three more points after that.
Reid took over as the game got looser and scored an excellent third goal for Kilkenny in the 55th minute.
He appeared to have been fouled by Donnacha Ryan but play continued on and Reid cleverly flicked the ball to the net.
John Donnelly came on for Kilkenny and pinched a point while Cody came into the contest with back to back scores.