UCC battle back to claim the spoils

AN outstanding team effort in the second half saw UCC overcome a one-goal deficit to claim a relatively comfortable victory over CIT in their Colleges Hurling League clash at CIT last night.

Having been second best for the opening half an hour, College upped the ante in the second period, with centre-back James Barry and corner-forward Shane Bourke leading the comeback.

UCC’s midfield pairing of William Egan and Daniel Kearney showed their potency in attack early on, notching two of College’s opening three points as UCC took an early lead.

It wasn’t long before CIT settled, however, with their half backline and midfield gaining the upper hand. Points from Patrick O’Connor and Padraig Goold were followed by a Stephen Moylan goal on 14 minutes. CIT dominated the majority of the half before a late UCC rally left the score 1-8 to 0-9 at the break.

Having clawed the deficit back to a single point 12 minutes after the interval, UCC were gifted a goal when a misplaced handpass in the CIT defence left Brian Hartnett with an open goal.

Three unanswered points stretched the UCC lead to four points with 10 minutes left and they maintained their intensity to see the game out.

Scorers for UCC: S Bourke 0-7 (3f), B Hartnett 1-0, S Harnedy and D Kearney 0-3 each, S Moylan 0-2, W Egan and J Barry 0-1 each.

Scorers for CIT: N O’Doherty 0-5 (4f), J Coughlan 1-3 (2f), P Goold and D Lordan 0-2 each, P O’Connor 0-1 (f).

UCC: D McCarthy; S Maher, J O’Callaghan, K Murphy; J Barry, D Fives, S Corry; W Egan, D Kearney; S Harnedy, M Grace, D Bronsan; S Bourke, S Moylan, D Hartnett.

Subs: J Cassin for Grace (ht), D Roche for Brosnan (42).

CIT: K Roche; B Weathers, S McDonald, J Hurley; M Ellis, P O’Connor, S Daniels; L McLaughlin, N O’Doherty; M O’Sullivan, C Casey, P Goold; S Murray, J Coughlan, K Fitzgerald.

Subs: D Lordan for Murray (25), J Condon for Roche (25), J Cronin for McLaughlin (42), J Neville for Hurley (54).

Referee: J Larkin (Douglas).