A real heavyweight battle.
Mary Immaculate went into Wednesday night’s Fitzgibbon Cup quarter-final as marginal favourites. The two-in-a-row champions are missing a host of players from their winning campaigns of previous years, but as they showed when beating NUIG last time out, they still have the fighting spirit.
DCU, meanwhile entered into proceedings as somewhat of an unknown quantity. A monumental opening round victory against Davy Fitzgerald’s LIT meant they wouldn’t be underestimated again, however, and the Glasnevin college, having won last year’s fresher’s All-Ireland have plenty of young talent at their disposal.
It was the freshness and hunger of DCU which won out on a windy Wednesday in North Dublin, as Donal Burke pointed the way for the home side all the way to the semi-finals of this competition for the first time in their history.
An early goal from Michael O’Loughlin rocked the North Dublin crowd, and settled Jamie Wall’s men into this one.
It was a dogged, somewhat scrappy affair in that opening quarter. Both sides were on edge and the exchanges were extremely physical and even feisty, with the quality of the game suffering as a result.
There were, however, still some bright passages of play. The fleet-footed Joe O’Connor oozed class and skill on numerous occasion for DCU, collecting ball after ball deep in his own back line.
Conor McSweeney and Donal Burke also showed well for the home side, with the latter registering a magic score 20 minutes into the game.
Indeed, Burke was the leading light for Eoin Roche’s men, who went into the interval with a two point, 0-8 to 1-3 lead over the travelling side.
DCU’s dominance grew after the half-time whistle. Burke, McSweeney and O’Connor were again to the fore as they forged out a 0-14 to 1-7 lead after 45 minutes of action.
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The Mary I heads never dropped, and they kept probing and their efforts were rewarded when a 46th minute penalty came their way.
Birr goalkeeper Eoghan Cahill slotted the penalty and this provided the well supported away side with the impetus they needed. They kicked on from here to take a 2-9 to 0-14 lead after 51 minutes of play.
The two heavyweights slogged it out, blow for blow, shot for shot, wide for wide and point for point down the home straight. The shackles were well and truly off and the excitement levels were serious in St. Clare’s pitch.
DCU full forward Rian McBride was coming into the game at this stage, and his point gave DCU a lead with the clock ticking.
Points from Killian Doyle and Donal Burke sealed the deal for the rampaging DCU, who won out by 0-20 to 2-12. They mean business this year.
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