ON they march. On an afternoon that was never going to be less than poignant for Kilkenny hurling, the champions secured an All Ireland semi-final berth for the 11th straight year. Behind the hype, at the end of all the months of waiting, Galway had plenty to offer; this was an excellent contest and a brave effort by the underdogs. But Kilkenny . . . and especially Eddie Brennan, who killed off the contest with two goals in the closing 10 minutes . . . had an extra gear.

With an hour elapsed, the outcome was on a knife edge, the sides locked on 1-18 apiece. Galway didn't manage another score thereafter.

Their opponents rifled 2-4.

Enough said.

Anyone who expected the challengers to bring unbridled aggression to the table as an opening bid was in for a surprise. What they brought instead was controlled aggression allied to a gameplan that entailed the opening-up of vast tracts of land in the Kilkenny half by the expedient of pulling the full-forward line out and siting the half-forward line on top of midfield. PJ Ryan was thus pucking out to the unmarked Noel Hickey and Jackie Tyrrell; it didn't bother Galway.

No less significantly, they'd also clearly worked hard on the training field on a gambit centred on getting Alan Kerins into space and passing him the sliotar. It paid off brilliantly; Kerins had three points on the board inside the opening 11 minutes, the second and third of them off his left from more than 50 metres out. Nor were Galway making the mistake of reverting to bad old habits and carrying the ball into the danger zone, there to be swallowed up by the Kilkenny defenders. Their hurling was fast and stringent, and from such a buildup did their goal arise after 24 minutes.

Damien Hayes hit a delivery from midfield; Niall Healy, under pressure from two opponents with his back to goal, managed a lateral flick;

Richie Murray stormed through to latch onto it, space opened up in front of him and he kept his nerve to sweep the sliotar past Ryan.

If the champions were rattled they made a good fist of hiding the fact. Three points down after 11 minutes,0-5 to 0-2, they reeled off five unanswered points. Two were the handiwork of Eoin Larkin, profiting from bursts by Jackie Tyrell and Derek Lyng; two were Shefflin frees; the last was a Martin Comerford score that topped off a wellconstructed move.

A point on the volley by Iarla Tannian restored the underdogs' momentum and following Murray's goal, a Niall Healy point put them 17 to 0-8 in front. From there to the interval it was six of one and half a dozen of the other:

Fergal Healy and Kerill Wade (free) with points for Galway, Shefflin with three frees and Eddie Brennan with a splendid point from the right-hand touchline. The minimum separated them at the midway stage (K 0-13 G 1-9). It was a fair reflection of proceedings.

One other item of note: Galway had hit only one wide.

They restarted with Damien Joyce in for the injured Fergal Moore, David Forde in at centre-forward and goalkeeper Colm Callanan landing a monster point from a free in the 38th minute. The usual Kilkenny post-interval charge was not materialising. The game was there to be seized on and made their own by Galway.

Two Niall Healy points in 90 seconds pushed them in front. Then, out of nowhere, the favourites worked a goal:

a Brennan turn and run, the offload to Richie Power, a simple finish from point-blank.

Kilkenny 1-16 Galway 1-14.

Wade, from another free, and Lyng exchanged points.

Eugene Cloonan, Galway's hero against Kilkenny in the 2001 All Ireland semi-final, entered the fray. Two more Wade points tied it up at 1-17 apiece. This was going right to the wire.

The sides were level again eight minutes from the end when Larkin looked up and found Brennan all alone inside, with the Galway defenders not so much awol as presumably emigrated.

The finish was academic, and Kilkenny kicked on with points from the same player and Power. Five up, five to go . . . and eight up moments later when Brennan worked his mojo again, twirled past Ger Mahon and stitched it.

As fine an account as Galway had given of themselves, there was no way back.

KILKENNY PJ Ryan; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; D Lyng (0-2), J Fitzpatrick (0-3, 0-1 free); E Brennan (2-2), H Shef"in (c) (0-8, frees), E Larkin (0-2); W O'Dwyer (0-1), M Comerford (0-2), A Fogarty (0-1) Subs R Power (1-1) for Fogarty, half-time; J Ryall for Delaney, 48 mins; J Tennyson for Hogan, 57 mins; M Fennelly for O'Dwyer, 60 mins GALWAY C Callanan (0-1, f); G Kennedy, G Mahon, F Moore; S Kavanagh, J Lee, D Collins (c); F Healy (0-2), R Murray (1-0); A Kerins (04), N Healy (0-3), I Tannian (0-1); K Wade (0-7, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65), D Hardiman, D Hayes Subs D Joyce for Moore, half-time; D Forde for Hardiman, half-time; E Cloonan for Murray, 51 mins; K Broderick for Tannian, 57 mins Referee D Murphy (Wexford)