Cian O’Callaghan scores the clincher for Erin’s Own

Erin’s Own 1-17 CIT 1-14: For a team who came within one hour of a county final appearance last autumn, having to play your ‘get out of jail’ card against a depleted CIT outfit in what was a particularly dour first round clash doesn’t inspire much by the way of confidence for the summer ahead.

With the clock reading 59 minutes on a very wet night and the scoreboard showing the teams level at 1-13 to 0-16, Erin’s Own found themselves in a spot of bother last Saturday. From a position of dominance at half-time – they led 0-11 to 0-7 – their advantage had been chipped away at during the second-half, the rate of erosion quickened by a Tomás O’Connor goal entering the final quarter which was part of an unanswered 1-4 from the students.

Erin’s Own, even allowing for the absence of the injured Stephen Cronin and the loss of corner-back pair Cian O’Connor and Killian Murphy either side of half-time to injury, were expected to see this fixture out, and with a bit to spare. But with the clock approaching injury-time, a shock result was now a very real possibility.