Gaelic Games

Cork IT take win but lose John O’Dwyer for quarter-finals

Tipperary star receives red card for striking in UUJ game

James O’Connell of CIT gets away from UUJ’s Nicky McKeague and Michael Russell during the Fitzgibbon Cup Group D game in Jordanstown. Photograph: Declan Roughan/Inpho/Presseye
James O’Connell of CIT gets away from UUJ’s Nicky McKeague and Michael Russell during the Fitzgibbon Cup Group D game in Jordanstown. Photograph: Declan Roughan/Inpho/Presseye
Thu Feb 04 2016 - 19:42

UUJ 1-14 CIT 1-18

Cork IT’s Fitzgibbon Cup win in Belfast came at a cost, with star forward John O’Dwyer receiving a straight red card in the second half.

The Tipperary ace was sent-off in the 45th minute for striking UUJ defender Niall Devlin in a closely fought Group D game, which rules him out of the quarter-final.

CIT, who host this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup semi-finals and final, were made to battle all the way and only led by 0-10 to 0-9 at the interval.

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A strong third quarter pulled them through, with Pa White’s goal four minutes after the restart the highlight.

They led by 1-16 to 0-12 after 50 minutes before James Connolly scored a late consolation goal for a spirited home side.

CIT: G Minehan; S Murphy, M Russell, C Hammersley (0-1); D Noonan (0-1), R Barry, A Coffey (0-2); B Cooper, B Reddan; M Kearney (0-2), J Cronin (0-2), R Hannelly; N McNamara (0-1), J O'Dwyer (0-8, three frees, two 65s), P White (1-0). Subs: J Cashman (0-1, free) for Reddan (half-time), K O'Neill for Hannelly (half-time), A Dorgan for White (53 mins), S Manning for Noonan (58 mins).

UUJ: R Courtney; N Devlin, S Rooney, R Brannigan; G Walsh (0-2, two frees), T Mannion, T O Ciaran (0-1); D McKernan (0-1), M Dudley; J McGreevy (0-1), S McAfee (0-2), A Kelly; J Connolly (1-1), J O'Connell (0-1), N McKeague (0-5, three frees, one 65). Subs: A Dooey for Dudley (23 mins), J O'Dwyer for McKeague (53 mins), M Dudley for Devlin (51 mins), M McCartin for Kelly (59 mins), A Curtin for O'Connell (59 mins).

Referee: Brian Brady (Louth).

NUIG Galway 3-18 DIT 2-7

The battle to reach the last eight of the Fitzgibbon Cup will go down to the death in Group C as John Fox’s two goals gave NUI Galway their first win of the competition over DIT in Dangan.

Cathal Mannion had earlier fired NUIG into a 1-7 to 0-3 lead after 21 minutes, and a minute later DIT’s Derek McNicholas saw his penalty creep over the bar.

After that missed chance DIT trailed by 3-12 to 0-4 at the break and never really recovered, despite Jack Guiney and Jude Sweeney goals after the restart.

NUI Galway need a win against reigning champions University of Limerick to be sure of qualification, while they can still go through in defeat if DIT beat Mary Immaculate.

NUI GALWAY: C Tuohy; C Ryan, B Fitzpatrick, G Forde; S Cooney, J Hanbury, P Mannion (0-2); N O'Brien (0-2), O Donnellan (0-2); B Duggan (0-7, five frees), K McHugo, M Mullins; J Fox (2-0), C Whelan (0-3), C Mannion (1-2). Subs: E Brannigan for O'Brien (43 mins), R Taylor for Fox (46 mins), L Kilcline for Cooney (53 mins), A Helebert for Mullins (53 mins), R Lane for Donnellan (60 mins).

DIT: P McKenna; S McClelland, T Doyle, C Robinson; D Guinan, W Irish, S Barrett; G Whelan (0-2), L Chin (0-1); R Greville, J Guiney (1-0), C Sheehan; AJ Murphy (0-1), D McNicholas (0-2, one penalty), D Mottram. Subs: J Sweeney (1-0) for Murphy (half-time), C O'Donoghue (0-1, one 65) for Mottram (39 mins), E McInerney for Sheehan (41 mins).

Referee: Kevin McGeeney (Roscommon).

University of Limerick 5-15 Mary Immaculate 3-14

University of Limerick chalked up their second win of their campaign when an ability to find the net paid a big dividend in this Limerick derby.

Mary I were shocked on their home pitch when Tommy Heffernan struck two goals in the opening five minutes. That helped them surge 2-6 to 0-3 ahead but then Declan Hannon got Éamonn Cregan’s team moving with a goal that cut the gap to 2-8 to 1-9 at the interval.

Cathal McInerney came on at the break and hit three rapid points, while goals from a long-range Jason Forde free and one from Pat Ryan saw UL open up a 4-14 to 1-12 lead.

A goal from Seán Linnane sparked another Mary I revival and Hannon’s second goal and a point from Colm Galvin cut the gap to four points before Kevin O’Brien got UL’s fifth goal to seal the win.

UL: P Maher; S Finn, J Browne, S Roche; A McGuane, G Hegarty, B Stapleton; K Hehir (0-1), T Heffernan (2-2); J Forde (1-1), T Morrissey (0-1), C Martin (0-1); J McGrath (0-5, two frees, one 65), K O'Brien (1-0), D Fitzgerald (0-1). Subs: B Heffernan for Finn (28 mins), C McInerney (0-3 mins) for Hegarty (30 mins), P Ryan (1-0) for Fitzgerald (47 mins), L O'Sullivan for Morrissey (57 mins).

MARY I: M Ó Conghaile; E Quirke, R English, A Flynn; C Twomey (0-1), J Meagher , R Maher; T Stapleton (0-1), C Galvin (0-2); D Reidy (0-1), D O'Donovan (0-6, four frees), M O'Neill (0-1); D Corry, D Hannon (2-1), S Cahill (0-1). Subs: S Linnane (1-0) for Reidy (29 mins), C Barry for O'Neill (45 mins), S Taylor for Stapleton (50 mins), M O'Loughlin for Cahill (51 mins).

Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary).