St Kieran's and Kilkenny CBS to meet in Corn Uí Dhuill final for second year running

Action from Nenagh CBS v Kilkenny CBS.

It will be another all-Kilkenny affair in the Leinster PPS Senior Hurling A Corn Ui Dhuill final after St Kieran's College and Kilkenny CBS came through their semi-finals unscathed on Wednesday afternoon.

The Marble city derby will also be a repeat of the 2024 decider which saw St Kieran's take the crown on the way to All-Ireland success.

St Kieran's sealed their place in this year's final when claiming an eight point victory over a Good Cousel outfit that also had a number of Kilkenny players on show (0-22 to 0-14).

The winners led 0-13 to 0-6 at the break but a strong run of five unanswered points - two came from Kilkenny senior intercounty panellist Darragh Vereker - saw Counsel cut the gap to two by the 37th minute.

However Kieran’s didn’t panic and, with the help of an impressive Ed Lauhoff point and two scores from the lively Noah Manogue (one free), they stretched their lead again.

Good Counsel raised their game again in the final quarter but couldn’t make their efforts count and after Kieran’s weathered the storm, they used the strength of their bench to see the game out. John Fitzpatrick and Bill McDermott came on and made their presence felt, the duo scoring a brace apiece as they helped the champions rack up a solid win.

Kieran's will have very stiff opposition in the final however as their near neighbours Kilkenny CBS not only defeated them before Christmas but they also looked very classy when seeing off the combined Dublin South Schools outfit.

The Kilkenny city school were dominant for large periods with Zac Scanlon and Anthony Cifford getting goals in either half.

Added to that both Cian Byrne and Patrick Lacey scored freely in attack while there was also good impact off the bench from Sam O'Shea and Zac O'Halloran.

Scanlon's first half goal opened up a five point lead at the break and although Dublin South Schools got within two points when Hugh Egan netted in the 37th minute, it was completely one-way traffic afterwards with CBS outscoring their opponents 1-9 to 0-1 by the time of the full-time whistle.

With a fine sprinkling of last year's Kilkenny county minor squad throughout a team which is spearheaded by Patrick Lacey, they had too much firepower as they won out on a 2-19 to 1-9 scoreline in the end.