James Stephens 5-14 Castletown 0-8: A clinical display from reigning All-Ireland club champions James Stephens at Dr Cullen Park yesterday, in which they built on a dream start which produced two goals in the opening three minutes, saw the Kilkenny side through to next Sunday's provincial final.
Those goals from Ritchie Hayes and Eoin Larkin put the Village in control, and they never relinquished their hold on the game.
Castletown were shell-shocked by those early goals, but in truth they were hardly a match for their opponents in any aspect of play.
That was most apparent in attack, where their forward line was smothered to such an extent by the James Stephens defence that they recorded only a single point in the entire game - an 11th minute effort from Ger Reddin.
The fluent, composed Kilkenny men were in complete charge, strong in defence, dominant in midfield and with a forward line expertly led by Larkin.
A booted goal by Gary Whelan in the 21st minutes put the champions 3-6 to 0-3 in front, and by half-time they had cruised into a 3-8 to 0-4 lead.
The second half was primarily a damage limitation exercise for the Laois champions as they sought unsuccessfully to stem the flow of James Stephens goals.
Second-half goals from Eoin McCormack and Richie Hayes provided more embarrassment for Castletown as the gap between the sides grew to a massive 21 points before the finish.
JAMES STEPHENS: S Cantwell; D Cody, M Phelan, D Grogan; J Tyrrell (0-1), P Larkin, P Barry; P O'Brien (0-2), B McEvoy; J Murray, E Larkin (1-9, 0-5 frees, 0-1 65), J Whelan (1-1); E McCormack (1-1), R Hayes (2-0), D McCormack. Subs: S Egan for McEvoy, M Ruth for Murray, M Fogarty for O'Brien, P Butler for Cody.
CASTLETOWN: J Lyons; F Cuddy, B Ferns, T Phelan; D Keenan, Paul Cuddy (0-4, frees), D Brophy; D Cuddy (0-3, one free, one 65), R Delaney; Pauric Cuddy, J O'Sullivan, C Cuddy; J Hoban, F O'Sullivan, G Reddin (0-1). Subs: P Mullaney for J O'Sullivan, M Phelan for F O'Sullivan, J Delaney for Keenan.
Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).
