Fitzgibbon round-up: UCD out by cruel score difference but the power of Liam Blanchfield

Niall McIntyre

UCD always knew it was going to be tight.

Going into the last round of group games, the south Dublin college required a helping hand, a generous one at that, from UCC as well as a mammoth performance from themselves to take all against UL and to beat NUI Galway to the last spot in the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup quarter finals.

And tell you what, by the day’s end, they nearly had it.

Trailing by two points on the scoreboard and 16 on points difference, they faced a fair old mountain at the beginning of action but as Thursday afternoon turned to Thursday evening, Conor O’Shea’s side’s chances were increasing all the while.

Table prior to last round of games

First of all, a Shane Conway inspired UCC scorched NUI Galway in the first half on the Páirc Uí Chaoimh astro. They held an eleven point lead at half-time and things couldn’t have been going much better.

Gifted Kerry man leaves NUIG for dead with gorgeous tap down trick on astro

But with the game a meaningless one for table-toppers UCC, the worry was always there that the stakes at play might drive NUI Galway on.

Eventually, Jeff Lynskey’s Galway men rose a gallop and ended up losing by only seven and with that, the ball was put straight back into into UCD’s court.

UCD 3-8 UL 0-15

Requiring a nine point victory over last year’s champions, they made a brave attempt at it with Tipperary’s Stephen Quirke and Kilkenny’s Sean Carey scoring early goals.

They kept their foot on the gas with Dublin duo Jake Malone and Ronan Hayes going well but UL were no pushovers and the home side ended up winning by only two.

DJ Carey’s sons Sean (UCD) and Michael (UL) were in opposition in Belfield.

That wasn’t enough and they ended up losing out by just seven points on score difference.

DIT 4-11 Maynooth 1-9

In the night’s other game, DIT defeated Maynooth University with eleven points to spare.

Kilkenny senior Liam Blanchfield was among the goals for them and his solo effort was the highlight of the night. Picking up the ball on the 21, the big, powerful forward was pulled and dragged by three Maynooth men but none of them could stop him and he went on to bury it past the goalie before running into the umpire.

Pure power.

Video: Toughest of conditions but see a @ditgaa goal from 3 camera angles in tonight's @ElectricIreland Fitzgibbon Cup win at @MaynoothUniGAA #FirstClassRivals #Hurling #GAA pic.twitter.com/pRSc66Woy1

— GAA Higher Education (@HigherEdGAA) January 31, 2019