Wexford and Offaly will contest the Leinster U20HC final next Wednesday evening following their respective semi-final wins over Kilkenny and Dublin last evening.

Wexford produced a strong finish to dethrone All-Ireland champions Kilkenny on a 1-18 to 2-13 scoreline at UPMC Nowlan Park, scoring the last three points in stoppage-time to avenge last year's final loss to the Cats and also repeating their earlier victory in the round-robin series.

The visitors raced into an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead with points from Luke Murphy, Michael Dundon, Cian Byrne and Cillian Byrne. Kilkenny closed the gap with scores from Gearoid Dunne, Eoghan Lyng and Luke Connellan, but four more Cian Byrne points had Wexford perched on a 0-9 to 0-5 half-time lead.

With substitute Ted Dunne making an impact, Kilkenny rallied after the restart and looked like winning it when goals from Dunne (penalty) and Eoin O'Brien put them in the driving seat. A superb JJ Twamley major edged Keith Rossiter's men back in front before Timmy Clifford equalised. But Wexford found an extra gear in the closing stages to claim a memorable win. 

At Glenisk O'Connor Park, Offaly's hurling revival continued apace when they overcame a fancied Dublin team by 1-19 to 2-12 to qualify for their first provincial final in the U20 / U21 grade since 2016.

Senior star Charlie Mitchell scored 1-9 in the absence of his injured Kilcormac/Killoughey clubmate Adam Screeney as the Faithful - who qualified from the weaker Tier 2 - followed up on their sensational quarter-final victory over Galway. 

Leo O'Connor's side led by 0-12 to 1-4 after playing with the wind in the first half. When Dublin scored the first three points of the second half per first half goal-scorer Ollie Gaffney, Jamie Conroy and Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing, the tide seemed to be turning, but a Mitchell goal in the 38th minute broke their momentum and the hosts pushed on from there, despite conceding a second goal to Conn Rock.

 

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