University of Galway's Gavin Lee in Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup action. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup Quarter-Final
University of Galway 4-24 MTU Cork 1-14
By Kevin Egan at Dangan
University of Galway, 2023 Fitzgibbon Cup finalists, marched into the last four of this year’s competition in fine style this evening as they moved through the gears against MTU Cork on their home field at Dangan.
Not unlike their previous outings against SETU Carlow and UCD, Jeffrey Lynskey’s side opened the door for their opponents to a certain extent, but this time they put a slow start well and truly behind them, with Tiernan Killeen and Colm Molloy the star turns in a devastating display.
Killeen anchored a defensive sextet that impressed, but MTU Cork were lively initially as Ciarán Joyce, Evan Murphy and Sam Quirke hoisted over some truly magnificent points from long range. The visitors led by two points on a couple of occasions, and still held a narrow 0-7 to 0-6 advantage as the game moved into the second quarter.
Niall Collins broke a tackle and with Johnny Murphy playing advantage, he set up Colm Molloy for a goal from 15 metres out, and once the Kilnadeema-Leitrim player nonchalantly placed the ball into the bottom left corner, it felt like a weight was lifted off the Galway college’s shoulders, and they started to produce some wonderful hurling.
Liam Leen and Ian McGlynn hurled a lot of ball through the middle, Greg Thomas was a powerful physical presence on the edge of the square and the full back line of Eoin Lawless, Darren Morrissey and Kieran Hanrahan didn’t put a foot wrong, but the star turns were Killeen and Molloy.
MTU Cork responded to the concession of the goal with a free from Brian Flynn, but University of Galway picked off the next five points in a row with some direct and precise hurling that exactly as physical as it needed to be, but never abrasive simply for the sake of it.
Ed Kennealy knocked over the last point of the first half from the right-hand sideline to reduce the gap to five points at the interval, 1-12 to 0-10, and he set up James Mulcahy within 20 seconds of the restart to reduce the lead even further.
A delightful flicked goal from Gavin Lee crushed that momentum before it even got going, and University of Galway simply never looked back from there. They had their misses too; Lee crashed a shot into the post in the first half, Thomas hit the side net with another effort from a narrow angle shortly after Lee’s goal in the second, and there were a couple of other errant strikes.
However in the main, their hurling was purposeful, sharp, and accurate. Molloy led the way with some lovely points, Alex Connaire and Killeen drew applause with some equally stylish efforts, and in the main, this was all achieved while denying MTU Cork any space or oxygen at the other end of the field.
When the visitors did finally find a way past Mark Hardiman, it required some good triangular passing to open up the defence and an impressive volleyed finish from Kennealy to meet Sam Quirke’s floated handpass from across the end line, but the Galway side didn’t lose a step, they simply went back to their best hurling and kept piling on the scores, with Shane Morgan and Niall Collins adding further goals for emphasis.
As Ireland prepares for a yellow snow and ice warning tonight, University of Galway were more concerned about sending out a maroon warning to the remaining participants in this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup, and it’s one that deserves attention.
**Scorers for University of Galway: **Colm Molloy 1-5, Niall Collins 1-5 (4fs), Gavin Lee 1-2, Tiernan Killeen 0-4, Alex Connaire 0-3, Shane Morgan 1-0, Liam Leen 0-1, Ian McGlynn 0-1, Greg Thomas 0-1, Dan Loftus 0-1, Oisín Flannery 0-1.
**Scorers for MTU Cork: **Brian Lynch 0-4 (4fs) Ciarán Joyce 0-4 (3fs), Ed Kenneally 1-1, Seán Walsh 0-2, Evan Murphy 0-1, Sam Quirke 0-1, James Mulcahy 0-1.
University of Galway: Mark Hardiman; Kieran Hanrahan, Eoin Lawless, Darren Morrissey; Dan Loftus, Tiernan Killeen, Shane Morgan; Ian McGlynn, Liam Leen; Patrick Burke, Gavin Lee, Conor Walsh; Niall Collins, Greg Thomas, Colm Molloy.
Subs: Phelim McCann for Morrissey (41), Charlie Mitchell for Thomas (47), Colm Cunningham for Leen (50), Jack O’Meara for Walsh (53), Oisín Flannery for Molloy (53).
MTU Cork: Cathal Wilson; Stephen Keoghan, Dara Mason, Paul O’Sullivan; Evan Murphy, Ciarán Joyce, David O’Sullivan; Sam Quirke, Ronan Walsh; DJ Twomey, Barry Kehoe, Seán Walsh; James Mulcahy, Brian Lynch, Ed Kennealy.
Subs: Rhys McCarthy for Keoghan (50), Mark Tobin for Kennealy (51), Colin Roche for Twomey (55), Colm O’Keeffe for Mulcahy (58).
**Referee: **Johnny Murphy (Limerick).
