Bonner predicts Fitzgibbon cracker as WIT face Limerick test

CHAMPIONS Waterford IT put their Ulster Bank Fitzgibbon Cup title on the line when they take on Limerick IT in the opening round in Limerick tomorrow in the game of the round.

Both teams are rich in inter-county talent which will add to what already is a glamorous tie.

“They don’t come any bigger that this one,” said WIT coach Colm Bonner. “It’s a winner-take-all match and it should be a cracking game.”

Galway wonder boy Joe Canning, his county colleagues Iarla Tannian and Aengus Callinan, Cork’s Kieran Murphy (Sars), Jackie Tyrell (Kilkenny) and the Tipperary pair Shane McGrath and Conor O’Mahony are all available to LIT, and the Davy Fitzgerald-coached side will be difficult to beat, particularly on home soil.

However WIT bring a very experienced team to Limerick. Eoin Reid, Mike Aylward (Ballyhale Shamrocks) and Willie Ryan (Toomevara), who were in opposition in the All-Ireland club semi-final classic last Saturday, will join forces for this game and with Waterford’s John Mullane and Tipperary’s Hugh Moloney also available to WIT, LIT will have to be at their very best to dethrone the champions.

Meanwhile in today’s Sigerson Cup action, Cork IT play host to WIT and should be good enough to see off the Waterford challenge. Kerry’s Bryan Sheehan and a host of Cork U-21 players including Daniel Goulding, Paul Kerrigan and Ray Carey will start with the home team. Despite the threat of Wexford marksman PJ Branville, Eddie Rockett and Maurice O’Gorman (Waterford), CIT should advance with plenty to spare.

The clash of the round could be the meeting of holders DCU and UUJ at DCU’s grounds. The holders looked very impressive in seeing off University of Limerick last week, and while the Northerners are always very difficult opponents at this level, it’s hard to see the reigning champions going out, particularly with players of the calibre of Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Eoin Lennon (Monaghan) and Kevin Reilly (Meath) in their side.

Sligo IT, with three Sigerson titles in the last five years, will have home advantage against DIT and should stay in the hunt, particularly with Mayo senior Andy Moran, Michael Doherty and Paul Durcan (Donegal) in excellent form at the moment.

Fresh from their convincing win in round one against IT Tallaght, NUI Maynooth make the journey to Dundalk to take on the local IT, and while they will face far stiffer opposition, should come away with a win, provided Francis McGee, Sean Cotter and Enda McCormack stay in scoring form.

NUI Galway travel to Athlone to take on the home side, and with several inter-county players from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon in their team, they should stay in the title race.

UCD play St Marys (Belfast) in Belfield and home advantage should be worth a couple of scores to the Dublin university, who will field a very strong side against the teaching college.

Meanwhile UCC are back in Templemore tomorrow — the game was put back 24 hours — to play the men in blue in the Sigerson Cup and may find this game a far more difficult proposition than yesterday’s Fitzgibbon Cup win against the Garda College.

Garda College lost the football league final to Queens in extra time, which would suggest they won’t be any pushover. Ambrose O’Donovan and Batt Moriarty both of whom play with Dr Crokes in the All-Ireland club SFC semi-final on Sunday, along with Joe Keane and David Clarke (both Mayo) will spearhead their challenge.

UCC have the benefit of a couple of games in the recent McGrath Cup, and the addition of Brendan Jer O’Sullivan has given their side a very solid look. Cork seniors Michael Shields and Michael Cussen are both included, and if John Hayes is fully fit, they’ll be hard to beat.