Wexford 1-13 Kilkenny 0-15 Senior star Rory Jacob was the late, late hero when defending champions Wexford escaped to victory in this semi-final at Nowlan Park yesterday evening.

Jacob galloped up the wing three minutes into injury time and his bullet-like drive ended in the net. It was the first time Wexford had taken the lead and after the puck-out the final whistle blew.

The teams had been level 0-13 apiece with nine minutes to play. When Aidan Fogarty and Michael Grace tipped over points for Kilkenny to put them in front with normal time completed, victory looked theirs. But the fleet-footed Jacob had other ideas.

WEXFORD: M White; P Donoghue, D O'Connor, P Hawkins; S O'Neill, J O'Connor, L GLeeson; D Stamp, E Quigley; B Lambert (0-7), W Doran, D Lyng (0-1); R Jacob (1-3), M J Furlong, D Mythen (0-2). Subs: A O'Leary for Doran (22 mins), R Freeman for O'Leary (39 mins), N Goff for Quigley (57 mins).

KILKENNY: D Herrity; T Walsh, J Tyrrell, G Joyce; W Burke, B Hogan, M Phelan; J J Delaney, C O'Neill; A Fogarty (0-1), S Hennessey, G Byrne (0-3); P Doheny (0-1), E Walsh (0-3), B Dowling (0-6). Subs: M Grace (0-1) for Hennessey (39 mins), K Rafter for Byrne (49 mins), K Coogan for O'Neill (53 mins).

Referee: E Morris (Dublin).

Wexford ... 1-13

Kilkenny ... 0-15