Leinster SH Quarter-finals/ UCD 1-12 Birr 1-7: Yesterday's AIB Leinster club hurling quarter-final was, as victorious UCD manager Babs Keating noted afterwards, "a funny sort of game". The Dublin champions hit the tracks early and by the 20th minute were leading by six points to no score.
In the final 10 minutes of the half Birr responded vigorously with an unanswered 1-5, only for the students to regain decisive control of the match with a third-quarter burst of 1-4 without reply.
The Offaly club, who had come into this tie confident of extending their lead at the top of the All-Ireland roll of honour, were curiously lifeless in the face of UCD's best phases of play and helped cut their own throats with seven first-half wides.
There was only a modest crowd at Parnell Park and virtually all of them were Birr supporters. The sun blazed down and conditions were a lot better than might have been expected.
Although the game was largely harmless from a disciplinary point of view, two players got the line: UCD's Colm Everard for two yellow cards and Birr's Gary Hanniffy for a wild pull in the dying moments of the match.
Keating was critical of the referee afterwards, but to the neutral Anthony Stapleton did okay and certainly his red cards didn't unduly influence the outcome.
"There's an acceptance from hurling people of all areas of refereeing," said Keating, "but what I saw out there didn't meet an acceptable standard. If he sent off two players like that in a Munster final between Cork and Tipperary he'd be lucky to get out of Thurles.
"I'm not picking on the ref today. I sympathise with him and appreciate him coming up to do the game today but the GAA have all sorts of procedures for managers and there should be the same for referees. They should have to go through videos of their games and look at the decisions taken."
UCD began with Tipperary half back Diarmaid Fitzgerald at full forward but it was his move back to defence that was the main element of a successful half-time reshuffle, which helped to reverse the momentum Birr had built up going in at the break.
From the off, UCD were sharper and steadily accumulated their early lead. Pa Morrissey was at the forefront with four points, including the first three scores of the afternoon. "Pa's playing great hurling for us this year," said Keating of the player whom he also manages at county level.
It was another free from Morrissey, dropped in on the square, that led to Diarmaid Fitzgerald winning the ball and being fouled for a penalty. Following instructions from the line Morrissey took his point.
For a while it looked as if UCD's lack of ambition might come against them. A long-range strike from Stephen Lucey pushed them six in front but as Keating conceded about his team's performance in the 10 minutes before the break: "We lost concentration a good bit."
Up to this point Offaly had been struggling at the back with their opponents ruthlessly exploiting handling and distribution errors. Brian Whelahan was mounting a virtually single-handed rearguard action, putting out fires all around the defence.
The Offaly veteran had arrived back from Africa at the weekend. Together with UCD's Stephen Lucey - himself just back from Australia and named TG4's man of the match - they were a tribute to the restorative powers of air travel.
It was Whelahan who started the recovery with a 65 for Birr's first point, followed by a couple of frees from his brother, Simon. Having shaved the margin back to a point, the former champions hit the jackpot just before the half-time whistle. Michael Dwane soloed unopposed from deep, and with Lucey quickly closing on him, struck the sliotar into the net for an interval lead of 1-5 to 0-6.
UCD's switches steadied the team. As well as the redeployment of Fitzgerald, Wexford's Redmond Barry came into the attack. A couple of long-range frees from Kilkenny centrefielder Bryan Barry shut the gap and then 13 minutes into the half Morrissey's delivery was caught by Tommy Fitzgerald, who finished to the net.
Birr could muster only two points in reply throughout the half hour and although Everard was red carded two minutes later, UCD held on comfortably and will play Wexford's Oulart-the-Ballagh next week in the provincial semi-final.
UCD: B Campion; D Walton, M Fitzgerald, E Campion; C Everard, E Ryan, B Hogan; B Barry (0-3, all frees), S Lucey (0-2); B Murphy, B Phelan, P Morrissey (0-6, three frees); J O'Connor, D Fitzgerald (0-1), T Fitzgerald (1-0). Subs: R Barry for Phelan (half-time), R Kirwan for O'Connor (45 mins), J McCarthy for R Barry (62 mins).
BIRR: B Mullins; JP O'Meara, P Cleary, N Rogers; Brian Whelahan (0-1, a 65), J Errity, N Claffey; P Molloy, Barry Whelahan (capt); R Hanniffy, G Hanniffy, S Brown; D Hayden (0-2), S Whelahan (0-3, all frees), M Dwane (1-1). Subs: D Pilkington for Brown (51 mins).
Referee: A Stapleton (Laois).
