Saturday's second Church & General NHL quarter-final was an altogether more interesting affair than Tipperary's humdrum dismissal of Dublin seven days previously. Kilkenny were big winners, not just on the scoreboard where they achieved a comfortable supremacy, but also in the manner of the win and the performances of the replacements introduced in the aftermath of last week's Leinster final defeat by Wexford.

Manager Nicky Brennan was beaming underneath the stand in Pairc Ui Chaoimh after the victory which moves Kilkenny into a League semi-final against Limerick next month. More imminently, he faces the coming weekend's All-Ireland quarterfinal against Galway. Had the win settled a few questions for him?

"Well no, it raised a few more that I'll have to answer next week. There was a lot of food for thought. Despite people making out that we made changes because of losing the Leinster final. We were always going to play Michael Phelan and Liam Simpson tonight, regardless."

The two players named certainly posed some welcome selection problems for Kilkenny. Phelan was excellent at full forward, starkly illustrating the decline of Cork's full back John O'Driscoll, and helping himself to 2-2, including two sharply-taken points in the opening 10 minutes.

At the other end, Liam Simpson gave a powerful display on the edge of the Kilkenny square, giving Alan Browne his most miserable big match in an age - maybe his first. In the area where Billy Byrne blew apart Kilkenny's lingering hopes in the Leinster final - that of aerial challenge which has also been Browne's strongest suit - Simpson excelled.

Browne did score two points and should have had a goal in the 42nd minute but, clean through, he shot straight at Adrian Ronan who was moving across the Kilkenny goal and able to make a comfortable save, but in general the Blackrock full forward was beaten to the ball by Simpson.

The dilemma for Kilkenny is what to do with Simpson next week. There is no doubt that he would make a fine full back, but with Pat O'Neill looking insufficiently mobile at centre back, the question of where to play him arises.

Eddie O'Connor's apparently diminishing chances of lining out against Galway after the injury sustained against Wexford gives one option - keeping O'Neill at full back and moving Simpson to the corner.

Ronan's display in goal raises a further question for Brennan and his selectors. Whereas he played a reasonably good match, there were occasional jitters - not as numerous as Joe Dermody's in the Leinster final - including the Cork goal, which came from a dropping ball sent in by Fergal McCormack and was allowed by referee Willie Barrett despite the fairly obvious encroachment of Browne on the square.

Elsewhere there was another tour de force from Willie O'Connor whose reading of the game, anticipation of and aggression on the ball launched so many Kilkenny clearances. Another in continuing good form is Charlie Carter who again was the team's best forward and notched 1-4 in affirmation of the fact.

It is not clear whether John Power will be fit for next week. He didn't tog out on Saturday. In his place, though, the much-maligned Canice Brennan had a satisfactory match. Playing on one of Cork's two best players, Brian Corcoran, Brennan still managed three points from play and got through a good share of ball.

Of most concern for Kilkenny will be the continuing dull form of captain DJ Carey who was once more well below-par. Admittedly Cork's resident fireman, Sean Og O hAilpin, who was handed the Jamesie O'Connor blaze in the Munster semi-final against Clare, played wonderfully well and only slipped once. In keeping with Carey's tendencies, that resulted in a goal for Phelan.

A steady early pace had the teams level at 0-5 each in the 22nd minute when McCormack, who was disappointing overall and replaced at the interval, scored his fortuitous goal. Barry Egan, lively in the first half and invisible thereafter, had an immediate chance of another goal but shot weakly.

This flurry served not to inspire Cork but wake up Kilkenny, who took the lead at the end of the half when Philip Larkin robbed Brian O'Driscoll and passed to Brennan whose good low ball into Phelan set up the full forward for his first goal. He might have had his second sooner than it arrived but within a minute blew a clear chance wide. Trailing 1-5 to 1-7 at half-time, Cork brought off Alan Cummins and McCormack and replaced them with Michael O'Connell and Darren Ronan. The resulting shuffle didn't do much for them. Brian O'Driscoll played better at centrefield than he had on the wing and Corcoran and O hAilpin continued to hurl purposefully in defence, as did young Diarmuid O'Sullivan in an otherwise rocky full back line but the main problems were elsewhere.

Jimmy Barry Murphy conceded as much afterwards. "We were in trouble up front but I would have liked to have been a bit closer at the end, but they (Kilkenny) showed the difference between the first and second division. I was impressed with their attitude. They surprised me when they turned up at Pairc Ui Rinn for a training session. They looked good."

The match went away from Cork four minutes into the second half when Phelan scored another goal. Cork couldn't get close again and after Browne's miss and a curiously unawarded penalty, after Darren Ronan was hauled over by John Costello, they never looked like coming back.

It was always going to be tough for them with half their championship attack missing and the fact that they had had no training for the last month because of the club championships.

Additional disappointment came - or didn't come - in the shape of a lousy attendance of around 3,000 which helps make the point that the Cork hurlers one of the worst supported senior teams in the country.

KILKENNY: A Ronan; J Costello, L Simpson, W O'Connor; L Keoghan, P O'Neill, D O'Neill; P Larkin, A Comerford (0-1); P Barry (0-1), C Brennan (0-3), DJ Carey (0-1, a free); PJ Delaney, M Phelan (2-2), C Carter (1-4). Subs: D Ronan for Cummins; M O'Connell for McCormack (both at half-time). CORK: G Cunningham; F Ryan, J O'Driscoll, D O'Sullivan; S Og O hAilpin, B Corcoran (0-2, one free, one 65), T Kelleher; F McCormack (capt) (1-0), M Daly (0-1); B O'Driscoll, R Dwane, A Cummins; K Murray (0-2), A Browne (0-2), B Egan (0-3, one free). Subs: K O'Shea for Delaney (53 mins); B McEvoy for Phelan (58 mins).

Referee: W Barrett (Tipperary).