UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY 0-20

SETU Carlow 2-11

Kevin Egan reports from Dangan

For two separate five minute spells in this contest, University of Galway and SETU Carlow produced a magical burst of scoring, raising 14 flags in total across those two periods and enthralling supporters in Dangan on what was an unseasonably pleasant evening, with ideal conditions for championship hurling.

Outside of those ten minutes, the action was frantic and high-paced, with the ball in play for a huge portion of the time due to both teams’ willingness to play quick restarts, but poor finishing – in terms of wides, goal attempts missed, and shots dropped short – meant that the rate of scoring was much, much lower.

Ultimately, last year’s finalists University of Galway scraped through, in no small part because Evan Niland had a much better night from placed balls than his counterpart Eoin Cody, who struggled to rediscover the sublime form he displayed for Ballyhale Shamrocks earlier this year, and last time out for SETU Carlow in their clash with DCU.

The home side too were guilty of plenty of misses however, and what that meant was that even though DJ Carey’s visiting troops looked second best for long stretches of this contest, they still could very well have forced their hosts into a very tough situation at the end. With time running out, Chris Nolan created one great chance when he leapt up to claim a long clearance on the edge of the square and was fouled for a 13m free, but Cody’s attempt on goal was meekly struck, and easily blocked by Liam Reilly.

Then, deep into stoppage time, Cody had another chance to float a ball into the danger area to see if someone could get a decisive touch and force stoppage time, but instead he inexplicably went for a point, and even then, pushed his effort wide of the target, confirming UG’s progression to the finals weekend of this championship.

It was that kind of night at both ends of the ground, with the exception of the opening five minutes, during which time Carlow found the net twice through Nolan and Thomas Keyes to lead by 2-1 to 0-4 after an explosive opening to the contest, and another five minute spell at the start of the fourth quarter, when UG outscored SETU Carlow by 0-6 to 0-1 to finally take control of a tie that was teetering in the balance up to then.

Alex Connaire, Oisín Flannery and the impressive substitute Jack O’Meara shot excellent points from play in this second half burst, but outside of these brief fertile spells, even though they had a wonderful defensive platform on which to build, they really struggled to find their groove. Tiernan Killeen and Eoin Lawless were the star men at the back, with Alex Connaire also catching the eye with an industrious and creative display at midfield.

Add in Niland’s accuracy, even from inside his own half, and this was enough to ensure that even as chance after chance was going abegging through the third quarter, they continued to keep their noses in front.

Scorers for UG: Evan Niland 0-11 (0-10f), Darren O’Brien 0-2, Alex Connaire 0-2, Eoin Lawless 0-1, Brian Concannon 0-1, Greg Thomas 0-1, Oisín Flannery 0-1, Jack O’Meara 0-1.

Scorers for SETUC: Eoin Cody 0-5f, Chris Nolan 1-1, Thomas Keyes 1-1, Ciarán Burke 0-2, Kenny Ryan 0-1, Cian Kenny 0-1.

UG: Liam Reilly; Thomas Hynes, Oisín Salmon, Mark Hardiman; Eoin Lawless, Tiernan Killeen, Colm Cunningham; Alex Connaire, Ian McGlynn; Brian Concannon, Evan Niland, Darren O’Brien; Oisín Flannery, Greg Thomas, Niall Collins.

Subs: Jack O’Meara for Collins (38), Ruben Davitt for Flannery (53).

SETUC: James Lawlor; Adam Daly, Podge Delaney, Paudie Casey; Gearóid Lynch, Danny Blanchfield, Ciarán Burke; James O’Connell, Cian Kenny; Kenny Ryan, Eoin Cody, Thomas Keyes; Mark Troy, Chris Nolan, Jack Morrissey.

Subs: Tom Doyle for Ryan (25), Nicolas Redmond for Doyle (h-t), Richard Foley for O’Connell (37), Doyle for Morrissey (47).

Referee: Niall Malone (Clare).

Thursday, February 16

Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup Semi-Final

UCC v University of Galway, Tubber 6pm