Kilkenny 3-18
Kildare 0-8
Walsh Cup round two
Kildare kept pace with Kilkenny for long spells in their Walsh Cup tie in Freshford on Sunday afternoon, but the class of Brian Cody's men told in the second half as they eventually eased to a 19-point hammering of Joe Quaid's experimental Lilywhites side.
After losing comprehensively to Laois a week previous, a trip to Kilkenny always presented a daunting challenge for the men in white, even if the Cats were without the bulk of their first team stars. Brian Cody chose to field a youthful and inexperienced side, and after a shaky first half which finished with just four points between the sides, Kilkenny assumed complete control and powered through the Kildare defence to plunder three goals.
John Walsh was the star for the hosts as he bagged 2-6 for the victors, while Bill Sheehan was also on the mark with a goal to help fatten up the margin of Kilkenny's victory.
It looked like Kildare were in for a long day when they fell 0-6 to no score behind early on, but Eanna O'Neill opened his side's tally on 11 minutes and points from Martin Fitzerald and a clutch of Paul Divilly scores helped the Lilywhites stay in touch with their illustrious opponents as they trailed by just 0-9 to 0-5 at the interval.
Sheehan bagged the Cats' first goal early in the second half, and when Walsh netted in the 47th minute to finish a period of utter dominance from Kilkenny, they led by 2-14 to 0-5 and it was all about damage limitation.
Walsh found the net again eight minutes from time to cap a fine individual performance, leaving Kildare without a win so far this year.
Scorers for Kilkenny: J Walsh 2-6, B Sheehan 1-1, K Farrell, O Walsh, M Mansfield 0-2 each, L Blanchfield, Colum Prendiville, Martin Keoghan, Billy Ryan, Sean Morrissey 0-1 each.
Scorers for Kildare: Paul Divilly 0-6, Martin Fitzgerald and Eanna O'Neill 0-1 each.
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