Mark Coleman of UCC in action against Michael Purcell of UCD during the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup Group A Round 2 match between University College Cork and University College Dublin at The Mardyke in Cork.
Fitzgibbon Cup round 2
UCC 2-21 UCD 1-13
By Declan Rooney
UCC took control of Group A in the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup as second-half goals from Mark Kehoe and Neil Montgomery helped them to a convincing win over UCD – their second win in the competition in the last four days.
The win puts UCC into the quarter-finals, but they still need to beat NUI Galway in their final game to be sure of top spot.
UCC raced into a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after five minutes and never eased up and held a five-point advantage at the half-time break, 0-11 to 0-6.
But it was Kehoe’s goal eight minutes into the second half that gave them the extra bit of breathing room when the Tipperary man, a key figure in their All-Ireland U-21 success last year and who has been drafted into the senior squad by Liam Sheedy, found the net.
The sides exchanges a couple of points each and the Cork college looked set for an easy win, but Tipperary goalkeeper Brian Hogan fired a free to the net nine minutes from time for UCD, which cut that deficit to seven points.
But UCC’s response was emphatic and they landed four points in as many minutes to pull ten points clear, before Waterford native Montgomery fired the late goal to wrap up a 2-21 to 1-13 victory.
On Thursday the standings in Groups A, B and C will become a lot clearer, with NUI Galway and UL facing off in Dangan in another Group A game. The Galway students drew with UCD in their round one game, while defeat on the banks of the Corrib will knock the champions out with one game still to play, after they lost to UCC first time out.
In Group B LIT host Garda College at 2.30pm and a victory for the Limerick students will put them in prime position to go through to the next round. They defeated IT Carlow in their opening game by one point, but they trail Trinity College in the group on scoring difference. Trinity had five points to spare against Garda at the end of their clash in Borrisoleigh and wins for the Dublin side and LIT will see both teams qualify for February’s quarter-finals.
In Group C, DCU will hope to claim a second win in a week when they host CIT at 5pm in the DCU Campus. They defeated Waterford IT by two points in Sunday’s game in the WIT campus, but victory for CIT would thrown their three-team pool wide open.
