KILKENNY started their quest for a six in-a-row of Bob O’Keeffe Cups in ruthless fashion, seeing off a lacklustre Galway challenge in front of a crowd of 8,243 at Nowlan Park. Goals from Adrian Mullen, Eoin Cody and Mossy Keoghan were the headline scores in this Leinster SHC opener, while Mikey Carey, Huw Lawlor and Mikey Butler fronted a magnificent defensive performance from the Cats. 2 Kilkenny thrashed a under par Galway side at Nowlan Park on Saturday 2 Kilkenny were without TJ Reid and a number of others stars in their Leinster opener Not even the injury-enforced absence of TJ Reid or first-half injuries to Mullen or Shane Murphy could disrupt their dominance after an evenly contested opening quarter. With Antrim away next up next Sunday, Cats boss Lyng said of Reid’s injury: “A slight calf strain. Nothing too serious but not worth putting him under pressure today. He’s training well and hopefully won’t be too long. “We trained very well and at times it just takes time to settle into the game. It definitely took us 20 minutes, As the game wore on we felt we were a lot more comfortable on the ball. "At times, they looked like cutting the lead and Galway are always a threat. I suppose we got goals there that finished the game off. “Any other day, ourselves and Galway, there is never much in it. It’s game one of five and we will get our heads into next week.” Cathal Mannion shot ten points for Galway and though they opened a 0-8 to 1-4 advantage on 20 minutes, it was one-way traffic thereafter. Kilkenny’s early goal came from Mullen after a mistake from keeper Darach Fahy and they took a vice-like grip with Jordan Molloy and Cian Kenny shining as ten of the closing 13 points of the first half went to players in black and amber. They led 1-14 to 0-11 at the break and pushed it out to 2-22 to 0-16 after Eoin Cody pounced for their second goal on 58 minutes. Keoghan netted a third Cats goal in injury time having earlier been denied by a flying Fahy save. RTE GAA pundit Dessie Dolan cracks wedding joke about Aidan O'Shea's star turn for Mayo vs Sligo It was a third straight 12-point defeat and a fourth this season for Galway after Tipperary, Limerick and Cork in the league, and now Kilkenny in the Championship, all had plenty to spare against a side who failed to make it out of Leinster last year. Boss Micheál Donoghue fronted up, saying: “First and foremost, it’s not an acceptable performance. It’s not what we expected. “I thought first quarter we weren’t too bad. We made some individual and collective mistakes and Kilkenny pounced on that and went in at half-time six points up and deservedly so. “Second half then you’re chasing the game and when we turned it over like we did, you leave yourself open at the back and we got punished for it.” Kilkenny 3-24 Galway 0-21 KILKENNY: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, S Murphy; M Carey 0-2, R Reid, P Deegan; C Kenny 0-2, J Molloy 0-3; A Mullen 1-0, J Donnelly 0-1, F Mackessy 0-4, 1f 1’65; B Ryan 0-2, M Keoghan 1-2, E Cody 1-5, 2f. Subs: S Donnelly 0-2 for Mullen 17mins; D Blanchfield for S Murphy 23; T Walsh for Blanchfield 61; H Shine for J Donnelly 62; L Hogan 0-1 for Ryan 66. GALWAY: D Fahy; J Grealish, F Burke, D Morrissey; P Mannion, G Lee 0-1, TJ Brennan 0-1; C Fahy 0-2, J Fleming 0-2; T Monaghan, C Mannion 0-10, 6f, T Killeen 0-1; C Whelan 0-1, B Concannon, D McLaughlin 0-1. Subs: R Glennon for Monaghan 48mins; C Cooney 0-2 for McLaughlin 48; R Burke for Killeen 53; Daithí Burke for Fleming 60; A Burns for Brennan 64. REFEREE: S Stack (Dublin).