| Cats show their claws  Kilkenny
have clambered sometimes clumsily through the hurling undergrowth this
season but as soon as they sighted serious prey the Cats swotted away
the opposition and advanced to another national final.
Wexford manager John Meyler must be looking through the glass darkly this
week as he watched all the confidence he was starting to put into this
Wexford team vanish amid a hail of Kilkenny scores.
The game was over as a contest with barely 15 minutes on the clock as
the Cats screamed into a 2-5 to 1-0 lead the first of their goals coming
after just 37 seconds when Aidan Fogarty slotted home an impressive knockdown
from Eddie Brennan.
Wexford seemed anxious to make a game of it when Darren Stamp filched
a goal after some poor Kilkenny marking.
But that would prove to be just a minor irritation for the All-Ireland
champions who swiftly regained the lead with another Aidan Fogarty goal
and a rush of points from Richie Power saw the Cats kill the game before
many of the fans inside the revamped Semple Stadium had time to let the
first of their pints settle.
Damien Fitzhenry the Wexford goalkeeper whose consistent brilliance
has saved his county on so many occasions managed to claw some respectability
for his team mates with a series of dazzling first half saves but the
interval score still read 2-10 to 1-3.
The Wexford backs couldn’t cope with the pace at which Kilkenny
operate in attack and as a result they mistimed their challenges and conceded
frees which Richie Power converted to keep his team’s tally ticking
over.
A late and well-taken goal from Darren Stamp gave Wexford a thimble of
res-pectability but they were a long way off the pace set by Kilkenny
in the middle third of the field.
Wexford manager John Meyler said in the aftermath of this result: “Only
two of my players Lyng and Fitzhenry were up with the pace of the game.
“We will have to look at that. There is a fierce amount of work
to be done yet but we knew that anyway and will keep working hard.”
With Henry Shefflin just back from honeymoon and content to enjoy the
Semple sunshine from the stands this was a frightening show of strength
from Kilkenny, who will face Waterford in what is their fifth League final
in six years.
While Wexford who were starting to think they were Leinster Championship
contenders must already be digging out their roadmaps to locate some of
the hurling outposts they could have to visit in the qualifiers this summer.
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