It was all one way traffic as expected as Kilkenny easily negotiated their semi-final passage with a landslide 32-point drubbing of the Dubs at a wet and miserable Nowlan Park last Saturday.
What will have pleased Anne Downey greatly is that the concentration levels didn’t drop like they did in the dramatic final against Tipperary and also, Catriona Ryan kept her first clean sheet of the championship.
Lining out minus Leanne Fennelly, Kilkenny took control from an early stage and a fifth minute goal from Katie Power began the rout for last year’s All-Ireland finalists.
Shelley Farrell set up Aoife Neary for goal number two in the 15th minute when the village dual All-star had her shot deflected off the goalkeeper, while Shelley Farrell, who moments earlier had missed the most straight-forward of goal chances when her hand-passed attempt flashed wide, made no mistake in the 24th minute.
A long diagonal clearance from the imperious Elaine Aylward saw Neary return the compliment and Shelley applied the finishing touch with such consummate.
Kilkenny led 4-8 to 0-3 at the interval, when Marie Dargan cut loose from 40 yards out following a sublime cross-field ball by Shelley Farrell, as she raced through unmarked to fire a rasping shot to the corner of the net.
They added a further 2-12 in the second-half, when Aoife Neary bagged a second-goal in the 36th minute aided by a goalkeeping mistake getting on the end of Catriona Ryan’s long range free, while she completed her hat-trick on the stroke of full-time, when unselfishly set up by Denise Gaule.
Anne Dalton added (2 frees ) 4 second-half points, as Marie Dargan, Katie Power, Aoife Neary and substitute Collette Dormer all scored at will.
Anne Downey also introduced Claire Phelan for her championship debut instead of Catherine Doherty at full-back, while also sending on Kelly Hamilton and Laura Kavanagh. The kittens now have the great luxury of knowing qualification is secured with away trips to Clare tomorrow (Saturday ) and Wexford coming up next Saturday week.
Player of the match: Elaine Aylward (Kilkenny ).
No doubting the outcome here as Aylward was superb from start to finish, and played the entire match fighting for every ball. It was an outstanding display in a 9/10 performance.
Scorers: Kilkenny – Aoife Neary 3-2 (0-1 free ), Shelley Farrell + Katie Power 1-3 each, Marie Dargan 1-2, Anne Dalton 0-4 (0-2 frees ), Michelle Quilty + Anna Farrell 0-2 each, Denise Gaule and Collette Dormer 0-1 each.
Dublin – Louise O’Hara 0-5 (0-3 frees 0-1’45 ), Shauna Duffy 0-1.
Kilkenny team: Catriona Ryan, Lizzie Lyng, Catherine Doherty, Jacqui Frisby, Keeva Fennelly, Edwina Keane, Elaine Aylward, Anna Farrell, Anne Dalton, Marie Dargan, Aoife Neary, Michelle Quilty, Denise Gaule, Katie Power, Shelley Farrell.
Subs: Collette Dormer, Kelly Hamilton, Claire Phelan, Laura Kavanagh.
