Hurlers complete Munster Interprovincial double

Munster 1-21 Leinster 1-13

The Munster senior hurlers followed the lead set by their football counterparts by earning an impressive victory over Leinster in this afternoon's M Donnelly Interprovincial hurling semi-final in Fermoy.

Waterford's Eoin Kelly was on fire as his personal tally of 1-10 went a long way to sealing what turned out to be a comfortable victory for Michael Ryan's side.

Kelly may have been overlooked for an All-Star nomination but he certainly answered his critics with this performance.

The hosts had the better of the opening stages and two points from Kelly gave them a 0-3 to 0-2 advantage with Cork's John Gardiner contributing the hosts' third point.

Leinster kept in touch thanks to the efforts of Kilkenny's Richie Power and Barry Lambert of Wexford, but Munster broke into a double scores lead soon after, thanks to a third point from Kelly.

Wexford attacker Rory McCarthy, who started in place of All-Ireland winner Eddie Brennan at full-forward, then put Leinster into the lead thanks to an impressive goal as he blasted past Brian Murray from close range.

Leinster's bright spell was ended when Munster bagged the next two points and they quickly regained the lead thanks to scores from Michael Fitzgerald and Tipperary's Lar Corbett.

The sides were level for the third time thanks to an excellent point from Aidan Fogarty, but midway through the first half the visitors began to hit a purple patch as they scored from all angles.

A pointed free from All-Star nominee James Young was followed by excellent points from Offaly's Kevin Brady and a second of the game from Lambert to ensure a 1-6 to 0-6 lead for Leinster.

Kelly kept Munster purring from placed balls but had his fourth point quickly cancelled out with an excellent long range effort from Derek Lyng at the other end.

Munster once again regained the initiative and held Leinster scoreless coming up the interval thanks to an impressive seven-minute spell before the short whistle. Points from Sean O'Connor, Kelly (0-02), Corbett, John Mullane and Fitzgerald saw the home side turn a three-point deficit into a 0-13 to 1-07 lead by the interval.

Again, Munster had a strong start on the resumption despite the likes of Leinster half-forward Young trying hard throughout.

The Leinster defence could not cope with the brilliance of Kelly, amongst others, who consistently performed well over the 70 minutes.

Kelly was aided in the second half by scores from substitute Shane McGrath, Corbett and Michael Walsh, and although the points did not flow as freely for Munster in the closing stages, the early groundwork was enough to see them through to an October 27 meeting with Connacht or Ulster at Croke Park.

Kelly's 41st-minute goal accounted for much of that groundwork as Munster's defensive solidity, with Cork pair Sean Og O'hAilpin and John Gardiner and full-back Declan Fanning from Tipperary adding plenty of steel at the back, kept Leinster at bay.