It was not all plain sailing for the defending champions however, with wing back Diarmuid O'Keeffe's first-minute goal giving Wexford the ideal start.

The expected Kilkenny surge came as Walter Walsh replied with a goal from their first concerted attack and TJ Reid raised their second green flag in the 21st minute.

The Model men mustered a strong finish to the opening half though, and their top scorer on the day - free-taker Ian Byrne - rattled off a quick-fire 1-1 to cut Kilkenny's lead to 2-10 to 1-12 by half-time.

But the game was put beyond Wexford's reach as Reid's second goal, inside 30 seconds of the restart, kickstarted a clinical second half display from Brian Cody's side.

Reid slammed home a 21-yard free to complete his hat-trick of goals - he finished with a mammoth 3-10 in all - before Wexford salvaged some pride with a Rory Jacob goal on the hour mark.

Kilkenny, who also tallied up 4-22 against Waterford last weekend, advance to the league semi-finals when they will face Galway on Sunday, April 20.

WEXFORD: M Fanning; K Rossiter, M O'Hanlon, E Moore; D O'Keeffe (0-1), L Chin, C Kenny; S Tomkins, H Kehoe (0-1); P Morris, C McDonald, I Byrne (1-8, 0-6f); R Jacob (1-3), J Guiney (0-1), L Og McGovern (0-1).

Subs used: A Shore for Tomkins (18 mins), L Ryan for Rossiter (45), P Doran (0-1) for Morris (47), W Devereux O'Keeffe (50), E Martin for Kenny (55).

KILKENNY: E Murphy; P Murphy, J J Delaney, J Holden; C Fogarty, J Tyrrell (0-1), K Joyce; P Walsh, R Hogan (0-2); W Walsh (1-3), C Fennelly, T J Reid (3-7, 1-3f, 0-1 '65'); R Power (0-3), M Kelly (0-3), E Larkin (0-1).

Subs used: M Fennelly (0-2) for Murphy (47 mins), B Hogan for Delaney (52), H Shefflin for Larkin (58), T Walsh for Fogarty (61), A Fogarty for W Walsh (64).

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork)