Favourites Waterford IT romped home in the final of the Bus Eireann Fitzgibbon Cup at JK Brackens ground in Templemore yesterday. UCC, after a big turnover of players this year, did well to come this close to what would have been a fourth consecutive title but there was no doubt about the weekend's best team.
After brushing aside with unexpected ease the challenge of the host club, Garda College, on Saturday, Waterford cruised the final, leading at one stage by 13 points. It caps a great season for WIT who have also brought home camogie's Ashbourne Cup; and the quality of their hurling outstripped all opponents in this year's Fitzgibbon with only Cork IT coming close in the quarter-final.
Whereas the semi-final defeat of the Garda College showcased the contributions of Henry Shefflin and Dave Bennett (seven and eight points respectively), the scoring in the final was more evenly spread amongst the team.
The weekend's only All Star - albeit a footballer - Tipperary's Declan Browne helped himself to 2-2. Nonetheless it was appropriate on a weekend when the Fitzgibbon final made its first appearance in Tipperary. The county was represented on each of the four semi-finalists but its influence was perhaps strongest on the winning team.
Donie Nealon coaches the team and aside from Browne, four other Tipperary players line out with the team. All of them made a contribution. Andy Moloney captained the side and centre back Eamonn Corcoran, playing the final on his home club's pitch, was named Player of the Tournament.
For the neutrals, the tournament was a bit disappointing. Although Garda College ran it with great attention to detail, the matches were too one-sided to be competitive with the exception of UCC's gripping victory over UCD on Saturday.
The pattern of the final saw WIT establish leads, lose their sense of urgency before re-asserting themselves. For most of the first quarter, UCC must have nurtured a little hope. Despite a good share of possession and three points in the opening four minutes, WIT weren't initially slinging over scores with the fluent abandon of Saturday.
UCC chipped the margin down to one, 0-3 to 0-4. What might have been particularly unsettling for Waterford was that none of these first three points came from dangerman Johnny Enright, the only survivor of the UCC attack from last year The Tipp forward ended with 17 to go with his seven points from the semi-final.
Waterford's stars this time were the hard-working Moloney who had an interesting tussle with Cork's John Browne and Alan Geoghegan whose precise striking helped create a number of scores, in the first half particularly.
The contest never recovered from a three-goal burst in 10 minutes at the end of the first half when Moloney, and Browne twice, were on hand to finish off attacks with goals between the 18th and 28th minute for an interval lead of 3-9 to 0-8.
Matters got worse for UCC two minutes after the break when Neil Ronan scored a goal. Donncha Sheehan replied immediately with UCC's first goal.
UCC's spirited refusal to lie down led to two more goals, from John Kingston and Enright and the margin reduced as far as five. Declan Browne restored the six-point differential to ensure Waterford's third title.
WIT - K O'Brien; M Kavanagh, E Flynn, A Kelleher; B Forde, E Corcoran, C Cassidy; S McClaren (0-1), A Geoghegan (0-1); M Bevans (0-2), A Moloney (1-1), D Bennett (0- 5, three frees); N Ronan (1-1), H Shefflin (0- 2), D Browne (2-2). Subs: D Lyng for Flynn (56 mins); A Hearne for Geoghegan (57 mins); P Delaney for Forde (63 mins).
UCC - J McDonald; P Mahon, T Bambury, N Murphy; J Murray (0-1), J Browne, L Harte; S Fitzpatrick, L Mannix; J Enright (1-7, four frees), R Flannery (0-1), E Bennett; D Sheehan (1-0), J Kingston (1-2), J Murphy (0-1). Subs: S Killeen for Sheehan (53 mins); M Hartigan for Mahon (58 mins).
Referee - D Murphy (Wexford).
Semi-Finals
WIT 1-17, Garda College 2-4
WIT - K O'Brien; M Kavanagh, E Flynn, A Kelleher; B Forde, E Corcoran, C Cassidy; A Moloney, S McClaren; M Bevans, A Geoghegan, D Bennett (0-8, two frees); N Ronan (1-2), H Shefflin (0-7, two frees), D Browne.
GARDA COLLEGE - J Smiddy; N O'Donnell, D McCormack, P Treacy; N Nash, S Hogan, G Flanagan (0-1, a free); R O'Hara, B Smith; E Brennan, J Flanagan (1-0), J Lawlor; N Moloney (1-2, goal from penalty and one free), J Young (0-1), K Horgan. Subs: M O'Rourke for Smith (27 mins); M Hubbard for Horgan (46 mins); S Cooke for Lawlor (60 mins).
Referee - D Murphy (Wexford)
UCC 1-11, UCD 1-8
UCC - J McDonald; P Mahon, T Bambury, N Murphy; J Murray, J Browne, L Harte; R Flannery, L Mannix; E Bennett, J Kingston, S Fitzpatrick (1-0); S Ryan, J Enright (0-7, four frees), J Murphy (0-4). Subs: D Sheehan for Ryan (half-time); C O'Brien for Kingston (46 mins).
UCD - P Dempsey; B Walron, T O'Donoghue, H Flannery; G Mernagh, D Hegarty, A de Paor; K O'Donovan, R Moore; P Ormonde, J Berkery, P O'Brien (0-6, three frees); M Gordon, D McCarthy, P Darcy (1-2). Subs: D McGrath for McCarthy (19 mins); S Murphy for O'Donovan (42 mins); P Fitzgerald for Berkery (55 mins).
Referee - W Barrett (Tipperary).
