Wexford 2-18 Kilkenny 0-16:Gary Moore was once again Wexford's chief marksman as he helped his side to a comfortable eight point victory over an experimental Kilkenny side in their Walsh Cup senior hurling semi-final played at Blackwater yesterday.

The Wexford sharpshooter scored 1-5 to continue his amazing scoring ratio in the three games to date – his goal coming from a penalty just on the break.

Kilkenny enjoyed wind advantage in the opening half and led by 0-9 to 0-4 midway through the first period as Rory Hickey showed real accuracy from frees.

Wexford were gradually playing themselves into the game in the closing quarter, finishing the half strongly, adding 1-2 in the closing five minutes. The goal arrived in the 35th minute through a Moore penalty after his club colleague Michael O’Regan was fouled , which left the sides level 1-7 to 0-10 at the break.

Although Kilkenny were still experimenting with their development squad that included many of their under-21 side, they still managed to trouble Wexford for periods of that opening 35 minutes, but once they relinquished their lead close to the break, they face an uphill struggle into the strong wind on the resumption.

Quality ball

By contrast, Wexford made far better usage of the elements, as the quality ball into the attack was fully utilised by Moore, Podge Doran, who had an impressive outing in the corner of the attack and PJ Nolan, who picked off some excellent second-half points.

The sides were still deadlocked 14 minutes into the second but a Podge Doran goal made it 2-10 to 0-13. From there to the finish Wexford got completely on top adding a further eight points to their opponents’ three, as Nolan, Moore and midfielder Eoin Doyle all found the target, while Kilkenny were reliant on the accurate freetaking of Hickey, which was not enough for them to secure a final spot.

Wexford will now meet Dublin in the final on Sunday.