Kilkenny advanced to the Bord Gais Energy All-Ireland Under-21 hurling final after they cantered to an easy win over Derry on Saturday.
The Cats scored three goals in the first ten minutes as they easily brushed aside the challenge of the Ulstermen.
Shane Walsh was top-scorer for the 'black and amber' with 2-7 while John Donnelly added 1-7 with Billy Ryan scoring 2-0.
Speaking to Off the Ball's Oisin Langan after the match, and asked if he could take much from the outing, Kilkenny manager Eddie Brennan said: "No you don't Oisin and that's just the unfortunate side of it. As I said, it's a complete mismatch but that's easy for me to say now - we gave Derry every bit of respect and I suppose in a warped kind of a way, that (scoreline) wouldn't have happened if we had been disrespectful of Derry.
"We put our best foot forward. We had only one fella missing through injury. We put our best team out and look, we made substitutions. Ideally, you'd like a stiffer challenge than that but that's not ours to worry about.
Kilkenny's Eoin Kenny. Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"We just had to jump the hurdle and get to the final, that was our target. And again, look, there was no difficulty in motivating the lads - we knew what was at stake.
"All our matches to date, we've been slow to start so we targeted the first five minutes today in a big, big way and we said we'd put them to bed early. "
Kilkenny will meet Limerick in the final after they overcame Galway.
The full post-match interview can be heard here:
