UCC eye redemption against in-form LIT

TWELVE months ago UCC were on the receiving end of a Fitzgibbon Cup drubbing against Limerick IT in aquatic conditions in the Mardyke on an afternoon when Galway star Joe Canning was in irrepressible form. Now UCC have a shot at atonement in this afternoon’s semi-final.

“We’re looking forward to it,” remarks UCC manager Paul O’Connor. “They’re going to be a very good side with Davy Fitzgerald on the sideline, they’ll be very well-drilled and well-coached.

“But we’re happy with our guys. I feel that we’ve a balanced panel and all the guys that had club commitments over the last few weeks are now fully available to us. Our focus since last October has been to make the weekend and we’ve achieved that now.

“The quarter-final last week against GMIT was about getting the job done. It’s never easy heading up to Galway to play and we had been thinking that we’d be going to Dublin to face St Pat’s. GMIT was a surprise then but we handled it well and got the win.”

Limerick IT captain Conor Cooney has unpleasant memories of the last time he collided with a UCC team in a Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final.

Two years ago he was in Waterford IT colours when UCC centre-forward Bill Beckett scrambled home an injury-time winning goal in their last four tie at Clan na nGael Fontenoy’s club grounds in Ringsend. It was a devastating defeat, and now Clare defender Cooney is hoping to make amends.

“That was my last year with WIT and we looked in a good position to win that game. But then they got that last-minute goal and ended up winning it handily enough in the final. It was heartbreaking at the time but you just have to drive on.”

Cooney has done just that and is now part of an LIT team that enters this game on the back of some sparkling displays. Last Tuesday they produced some awesome play on their home patch in Moylish Park as they crushed NUI Galway at the quarter-final stage by 25 points.

“We came out of the blocks very well and got a lot of scores on the board. But you have to take into account the big players that NUIG were missing like Seamus Hennessy and Joseph Cooney. We shocked them early on in the game by getting a few early goals. I think those strikes killed the fight that they had in them.

“We did play well but there’s a big challenge ahead now against a brilliant UCC team.”