The Cats triumphed 1-16 to 0-15 at the Gaelic Grounds.
The victory means Kilkenny are through to their fourth successive League final and their tenth in total under Brian Cody.
John Power’s crucial goal came at the start of the fourth quarter for Kilkenny, while Padraig Walsh upstaged his brother Tommy with a man of the match performance at no.5 for Cody’s men.
It could have been very different for Kilkenny as Anthony Cunningham’s side took an interval lead of 0-11 to 0-6.
TJ Reid and Colin Fennelly helped Kilkenny to equalise within ten minutes of the restart, and they led by a point going into the fourth quarter before Power’s goal gave them some daylight.
