By Eoghan Cormican, CIT
Mary I 0-11 LIT 0-9
A Declan Hannon-led Mary I made extremely hard work of Limerick rivals LIT to advance to the Fitzgibbon Cup decider.
The teacher-training college trailed only once in the second of today’s double-header at CIT, but Eamonn Cregan’s side were unable to put away their opponents and were made to sweat out the three minutes of stoppages as LIT rained delivery after delivery into the Mary I goalmouth in search of the required major.
The Mary I defence, marshalled by the excellent Richie English, held firm to secure passage to their second ever Fitzgibbon Cup decider.
The winners enjoyed a 0-6 to 0-4 interval advantage, with Colm Galvin, Niall O’Meara, Darragh O’Donovan (0-2), Hannon (free) and David Reidy on target.
LIT were dogged by eight first-half wides and were left particularly frustrated as a number of placed ball efforts were driven wide.
Having outscored Davy Fitzgerald’s side by 0-4 to 0-2 in the opening 20 minutes of the second-half to move 0-10 to 0-6 ahead, it appeared Mary I would ease to victory.
Instead, they retreated inside their own half and invited LIT forward.
Three on the bounce from Diarmuid Byrnes reduced the gap to the minimum as the clock spilled into time added on. No closer, though, would LIT come.
Scorers for Mary I: D Hannon (0-5, 0-4 frees); D O’Donovan (0-2, 0-1 free); C Galvin, N O’Meara, D Reidy (0-1 each).
Scorers for LIT: D Byrnes (0-4, 0-2 ’65, 0-1 free); P Duggan (0-2 frees); A Dempsey, O’Brien, P Killeen (0-1 each).
Mary I: M O Conghaile (Galway); E Quirke (Clare), R English (Limerick), A Ryan (Tipperary); R Maher (Tipperary), T Stapleton (Tipperary), J Meagher (Tipperary); C Galvin (Clare), D O’Donovan (Limerick); S Linnane (Galway), C Lynch (Limerick), D Corry (Clare), D Hannon (Limerick), N O’Meara (Tipperary).
Subs: S Kennedy (Tipperary) for O’Donovan (45 mins), T Gallagher (Tipperary) for Reidy (45), S Cahill (Tipperary) for Linnane (50), M O’Neill (Clare) for O’Meara (58).
LIT: E Quilligan (Clare); N O’Connor (Clare), K Bennett (Waterford), P Killeen (Galway); W Ryan (Tipperary), J Shanahan (Clare), D Byrnes (Limerick); C Barrett (Tipperary), O’Brien (Clare); A Dempsey (Limerick), N Maher (Limerick), D Dempsey (Limerick); M O’Malley (Clare), D Reidy (Clare), P Duggan (Clare).
Subs: J Campion (Laois) for Maher (44 mins), S Gleeson (Clare) for D Dempsey (50), W Connors (Tipperary) for O’Malley (50).
Referee: D Kirwan (Cork).
