Leinster Hurling Championship: Relentless Kilkenny punish Antrim in opener

Kilkenny were dominating the restart with Antrim struggling to win primary possession and after points from Cian Kenny and Martin Keoghan, the goal they had been threatening arrived as Paddy Deegan fetched an Antrim poc-out, went long to TJ Reid who beat Ryan McGarry in the air before scampering through for goal.

Two points followed before Antrim goalkeeper Ryan Elliott was sin-binned for taking down Keoghan outside the area but was deemed a penalty infringement. Tiernan Smyth came in with Niall McKenna making way for 10 minutes and the Ballycastle man made a stunning save from Reid’s penalty.

A Conor McCann score at the other end was Antrim’s response, yet although the wides were mounting for Kilkenny with nine in the opening half, there were enough scores to supplement as they led 1-15 to 0-7 at the break.

It took Kilkenny a few minutes to get going in the second period with Reid again getting them going from a free with John Donnelly and Shane Murphy chipping in.

Antrim were making little to no headway, chipping in with the odd sporadic score, but Kilkenny were in overdrive with their bench paving their worth as Owen Wall got in for their second goal on 49 minutes.