Famous day for Carlow as they hold Cats in Leinster Championship

Carlow pulled off a major surprise in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship at Netwatch Cullen Park when they held Kilkenny to a draw in an entertaining encounter.

Summer had finally arrived and the Kilkenny crowd, which surely outnumbered the home supporters, could only stand and look on as Carlow matched them in most areas around the field.

Not for the first time in his career, the pressure was on Marty Kavanagh when he stood over a 50-metre free to the right of the posts. Time was up so this was Carlow's final chance.

For a moment it looked as if his effort was going to go outside the posts, but to a huge cheer from the Carlow supporters, the sliotar curled just inside the posts. A draw for Carlow against their neighbours was certainly a result to savour.

The pre-match favourites got off to a great start when Martin Keoghan opened the scoring with a point and Owen Wall followed up with a fine goal breaking in at speed from the left. That came about when Carlow lost the ball at midfield and Kilkenny swept forward with intent. It was a lesson learned and one rarely repeated for the remainder of the contest.

Chris Nolan’s seventh-minute point for the home side got them off the mark and while they trailed by six points approaching half-time, they were still causing problems for Kilkenny, who had Killian Doyle sent off for an off the ball foul in that first period.

Shortly before that, Billy Ryan had a goal chance but the Carlow defence crowded out the ball-carrier and the opportunity was lost. Also in the opening half, Cian Kenny knocked over two points from play for the Cats.

Three points each from Chris Nolan and Kavanagh kept Carlow in touch though and at the interval Kilkenny led 1-11 to 0-09.

On the resumption, a Fiachra