HAVING already made their exit from the Under-21 competition during the week, Kilkenny were given a stern examination by Laois in the ESB Leinster minor hurling championship semi-final at Dr Cullen Park yesterday, before finally booking their place in the decider.

When Joseph Phelan pointed for Laois with six minutes remaining, just the minimum separated the sides. However, four points in succession, including two marvellous scores by Mark Bergin and Michael Fagan, secured the victory for Kilkenny by an altogether flattering 1-17 to 0-16 margin.

For a long while it was Michael Murphy's 21st-minute goal that separated the sides and that had a huge element of fortune attached to it as it took a deflection before beating Eoin Reilly between the Laois posts. Kilkenny needed that score as they had fallen two points adrift, having conceded four consecutive points to John O'Loughlin and Andrew Collier. Tomas Burke also landed two frees from inside his own half to keep his side in touch at the interval, trailing by just 1-7 to 0-9. It was nip and tuck throughout the second half, with three Bergin points helping to keep the Cats' noses in front until that finally flurry saw them home.

In the day's second semifinal, a wonderful seven-point contribution by centre-forward David Treacy was the highlight of a clinical 1-13 to 06 victory for Dublin over Wexford. The Cuala sharpshooter was in brilliant form throughout with all bar one of his scores coming from play.

Treacy's brilliance, and the support he received from Niall McMurrow, only served to highlight the paucity of the Wexford attack, which was almost completely reliant on the free-taking of Lee Murphy for scores. The writing was on the wall for the Model youngsters as they trailed by 1-6 to 0-5 at the break despite having played with a strong wind, Ciaran Whelan's excellently converted penalty putting Dublin in command.

As expected, the Metropolitans pulled clear after the resumption, with Treacy and McMurrow slotting five points between them.

Wexford's cause wasn't helped by the dismissal of Shaun Murphy mid-way through the second half for a crude challenge on Liam Rushe.