TJ Reid shows class is permanent with 2-6 in rout of Kildare
Kilkenny's Eoin Cody looks to round Cathal McCabe of Kildare in Saturday's Leinster SHC tie at UPMC Nowlan Park. Pic: Paul Phelan/Sportsfile
A week after suffering the ignominy of being taken off against Offaly, TJ Reid came roaring back to his best with 2-6 as Kilkenny powered to victory in the Leinster SHC.
It wasn't particularly pretty from the Cats in the first half as they produced more perspiration than inspiration and led by just a point at the interval.
But when they opened up in the second half, they reached a level of performance that Kildare, just up from the Joe McDonagh Cup, simply couldn't live with.
Reid registered 2-5 in the second half alone while the returning Harry Shine and Eoin Cody grabbed the other goals.
The second-half onslaught from Kilkenny was all the more impressive as they lost Cian Kenny late in the first half to a second yellow card.
Shine is just back from an ACL injury suffered last June and finished with 1-2 while Adrian Mullen also returned after long-term injury and got on the scoresheet too.
The 23-point win leaves six-in-a-row Leinster champions Kilkenny in the chase for another title ahead of their final round trip to Parnell Park to face Dublin next weekend.
As for Kildare, they'll wrap up their group campaign at home to Offaly.
Kilkenny whacked a dozen first-half wides in their draw with Offaly a week ago and, much to their dismay, increased that to 13 for the first 35 minutes or so here. They finished the game with an eye-watering 24 wides in total.
Throw in the four first-half point attempts that dropped short and it was a wonder that they still led by 0-11 to 0-10 at the interval.
The stiff wind appeared to favour Kilkenny initially but they were unable to capitalise with a series of shots drilled left and right of the uprights.
It was positive that Kilkenny created so many opportunities for themselves but Kenny, Cody and Liam Moore drilled eight first-half wides between them.
Moore, crucially, did convert two important scores as well and when Shine nailed back-to-back scores in the 22nd and 23rd minutes, they led 0-8 to 0-3.
All was looking pretty good at that stage for Kilkenny, particularly as Reid was showing a timely return to form and getting involved in much of their good work in attack.
He conjured a goal chance after a one-two with Cody in the 11th minute, pirouetting exquisitely to create space close to goal, but saw his shot blocked by Kildare goalkeeper Paddy McKenna.
Kildare racked up seven first-half wides themselves with the majority of those in the opening 20 minutes.
But they seemed enlivened by Kilkenny's difficulties and came roaring back into the game with five points in a row between the 23rd and 28th minutes.
Cathal Dowling, free-taker Jack Sheridan, Darragh Melville and Dan O'Meara were all on the target during the mini-blitz.
Melville's second point of the game just before the break summed up Kilkenny's difficulties. It came from a free at midfield after Killian Doyle, struggling to pick out a pass, was pulled for over carrying.
And with Kilkenny also down to 14 players at that stage following Kenny's second booking in the 34th minute, it was genuinely anyone's game.
The sides split four points evenly in a frantic start to the second half before Reid pounced for Kilkenny's first goal - and then the floodgates opened.
It was a cracker too as Cody and Shine combined in a slick move before playing in Reid who slotted to the corner of the net.
Two minutes later, Cody was the architect again as he fed the ball in from the right to Shine who applied the killer finish.
Tom Phelan and Mossy Keoghan added quickfire points and suddenly Kilkenny were nine clear, 2-15 to 0-12.
Kildare deployed Cathal McCabe as their spare man in defence, and later Cian Boran, but Kilkenny played around him and showed the sort of clever, hungry hurling that had been previously missing from their game.
Reid grabbed his second goal, and Kilkenny's third, from a 50th minute penalty after being hauled down himself by Rian Boran. Team captain Boran was shown a black card too so it was 14 v 14 for the next 10 minutes.
There was more good news for Kilkenny when Mullen made his first appearance of 2026 after groin and thumb injuries.
Mullen was among the point-scorers as Kilkenny reeled off 2-10 without response around the hour mark to lock down their second win of the campaign.
Cody's goal for Kilkenny came four minutes from time while Kildare had a penalty from Sheridan saved.
TJ Reid 2-6 (0-3f), H Shine 1-2, E Cody 1-2, M Keoghan 0-4, T Phelan 0-3, L Moore 0-2, C Kenny, P Deegan, D Blanchfield, A Mullen, T Clifford, K Doyle (0-1 each).
Darragh Melville 0-3, Jack Sheridan 0-2 (0-2f), Gerry Keegan 0-2, Cathal Dowling 0-2, Dan O'Meara, Conan Boran, Jack Travers, James Burke, Muiris Curtin (0-1 each)
: E Murphy; M Butler, M Carey, I Bolger; D Blanchfield, D Corcoran, P Deegan; K Doyle, C Kenny; L Moore, E Cody, T Phelan; M Keoghan, TJ Reid, H Shine.
: A Mullen for Moore (54), R Reid for Corcoran (57), T Clifford for Phelan (59), S Donnelly for Shine (64), S Murphy for Carey (65).
: P McKenna; L O'Reilly, R Boran, S Leacy; D Guerin, C Boran, P Dolan; D O'Meara, C McCabe; J Travers, C Dowling, G Keegan; D Melville, M Curtin, J Sheridan.
: C Boran for Dolan (44), R Hogan for Leacy (53), C Smith for Keegan (59), A Goss for Dowling (66), J Burke for Curtin (69).
Eamonn Furlong (Wexford).
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