Leinster SH Semi-finals/UCD 0-15 Oulart-the-Ballagh 1-9: While the debate over the students' participation in the club championships rages on, UCD proceed unperturbed, if a little ruffled. At Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, yesterday, in front of a modest crowd composed almost exclusively of Wexford people, the college prevailed and in doing so graduated to a repeat of last year's final with James Stephens.
From a purely hurling point of view, that should be a fascinating occasion. It was perceived this year that the college side might have declined a little from last year's form, when a disputed point proved very expensive.
UCD, though, look at least as strong as they were 12 months ago and with James Stephens coasting yesterday perhaps an epic is in store.
Yesterday's game brought nothing to complain about as a spectacle. Oulart, the romantic favourites - with Martin Storey and Liam Dunne at centre forward and centre back respectively - were looking to build on an impressive Wexford campaign.
UCD, embattled and spirited in the face of the current debate, submitted a defiant performance though and in a game which was nip and tuck for 60 minutes their stronger legs and indomitable spirit saw them draw away in the final minutes.
Oulart fought well. They slipped behind early on when an extraordinary point by Stephen Lucey and Pa Morrissey suggested there might be a depressing gulf in class. They were level at the break, though, thanks mainly to a textbook goal from Stephen Doyle. The ball was slipped at an angle out to the right corner, from where Rory Jacob drove it low across the face of the UCD goal. Wing forward Stephen Doyle arrived in at speed to pull straight to the net.
Through the early stages of the second half, though, UCD just kept getting the snouts in front. From the moment Tommy Fitzgerald popped a point to restore a slender lead to the students it went tit for tat.
Oulart would equalise, UCD would pull ahead again by the single point. Four times UCD scored and four times Oulart levelled. You could tell the dance was extracting more from the Wexford champions.
Significantly, it was work-rate which made the difference in the end. The UCD forwards laboured feverishly when the Oulart backs had the ball, forcing a string of poor clearances and making a series of good blocks. As many of the UCD scores came from forced errors in the Oulart defence as they did from student creativity.
Oulart themselves craved the comfort of a second goal. Wanting for some height in around the square they shifted Anthony O'Leary from midfield after the break and moved the lively Michael Jacob in the opposite direction. The sort of one-on-one aerial duels they might have envisaged between O'Leary and Michael Fitzgerald, the UCD full back, never materialised, however, and the UCD back-lines solidified in the second half.
For their part, UCD made one change before the game, inserting former St Kieran's College boy Eamon O'Gorman into the half forwards instead of Redmond Barry. O'Gorman's class was evident from early on and apart from his haul of three points he was involved in much of what was good and thoughtful in UCD's forward play.
Inside him, Brian Phelan was giving Liam Dunne a difficult time at centre back. Phelan also came away with three points. If the UCD full-forward line did not score quite as freely as might have been hoped for, especially considering John O'Connor's sublime early point, much of the loose ball their confederates lived off came from their hard toil and harrying.
After that period of wrestling for the lead which had followed the half-time tea, UCD finally stretched the margin of their lead to a couple of points through Tommy Fitzgerald and Pa Morrissey. Oulart typically pulled themselves back into the game through a couple of Stephen Doyle frees and doggedly were level again with eight minutes to go. They were, however, showing signs of stress and heavy breathing.
Increasingly, the fitness and work-rate of Brian Barry and Stephen Lucey were beginning to tell. UCD forced another defensive error with just three minutes left, and Phelan and Lucey combined beautifully for the former to scoot in for a vital point.
You could sense Oulart's growing desperation. No surprise then when O'Gorman and Phelan materialised again to nail the lid down on the game.
UCD: B Campion; D Walton, M Fitzgerald, E Campion; D Fitzgerald, E Ryan, C Everard; B Barry (0-1), S Lucey (0-1); P Morrissey (0-4, three frees), B Phelan (0-3), E O'Gorman (0-3); T Fitzgerald (0-2), J O'Connor (0-1), B Murphy. Subs: R Barry for B Murphy (41 mins), B Murphy for R Barry (58 mins), J McCarthy for J O'Connor (60 mins).
OULART-THE-BALLAGH: P Dempsey; J Roche, K Rossiter, P Roche; A Kavanagh, L Dunne, L Prendergast; A O'Leary, D Stamp; S Doyle (1-3, 0-2 from frees), M Storey, D Mythen (0-2); R Jacob (0-2), M Jacob (0-1), W Whelan (0-1). Sub: P Finn for A O'Leary (48 mins).
Referee: D Connolly (Offaly).
