Strong second half sends Kilkenny through to decider

Kilkenny came out on top in the latest chapter of their wonderful rivalry with Galway by four points, ensuring that we will have new Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior champions when they play Cork in the decider.

Galway fought to the final whistle in a bid to hold onto their title but their failure to penetrate the Noresiders' defence and in particular, to beat outstanding goalkeeper Aoife Norris proved their undoing.

The Cats held the upper hand for most of the second half, from the time Laura Murphy drilled a rasper to the corner of the Galway net from 22 metres in the 37th minute to put them ahead, just two minutes after Norris had denied Sabina Rabbitte.

Kilkenny 1-07 Galway 0-09 - Laura Murphy strikes a wonderful goal from distance to put the Cats ahead. Watch live on RTÉ 2 and the RTÉ Player now. Live updates: https://t.co/egvXG7iBXn #RTEGAA pic.twitter.com/TZ2Pdouj1Q

The game was played with real pace and jaw-dropping intensity and Kilkenny were quicker out of the traps.

Indeed they produced a lot of the better quality and intent in the first quarter at least but still saw themselves going in trailing at half-time by two, 0-08 to 0-06, after Galway had appeared to weather the storm and begin to make inroads of their own.

Cathal Murray and his crew will think that they should have really led by more, with Norris making three excellent stops, including from a penalty by Galway goalkeeper Sarah Healy, after Michelle Teehan had rugby-tackled Siobhán McGrath to the ground.

While much talk has been of the losses shipped by Kilkenny this year, Julianne Malone’s return after a three-year absence has been a huge plus and she weighed in with four invaluable points from play, including the opener.

When the ubiquitous Katie Nolan