Jordanstown ‘relieved to get over the line’ as battling UL just come up short

Favourites University of Jordanstown survived a massive scare in Ratoath as University of Limerick made light of their underdog tag.

The Shannonsiders could very easily have won this match, but that will do little to salve the regret of a massive opportunity missed.

After a shaky start, they took control of the match midway through the first-half to score 1-5 without reply as corner-forward David Conway terrorised the UUJ defence and John O’Rourke scored a smashing goal.

Jordanstown didn’t react well to this unexpected Limerick dominance, their players shouting conflicting orders at one another, and the decibels were even louder on the sideline where the UUJ management weren’t shy about expressing their opinion on how the match was being refereed. It was clear the favourites were rattled and they still hadn’t recovered their composure by the early stages of the second half as they kicked wide after wide and UL defended a three point lead pretty comfortably.

However, Diarmuid McNulty profited from a fortunate break to goal and drew them level. But UL stuck doggedly to the task. Even though UUJ were dominating territory and possession, they struggled to break down a UL defence superbly marshalled by Mike Moloney, David Dolan and Fionn Fitzgerald.

It looked like Jordanstown had finally broken their resistance when Paul Devlin kicked a fine brace of points.

Still UL refused to lie down. They summoned a late siege of the UUJ goal, but it only yielded a point and the Ulster team held on and advance to the last eight.

“I’m just pure relieved that we managed to get over the line,” admitted UUJ manager Adrian McGuckin.

Scorers for UUJ: D McNulty 1-2, P Hughes 0-4, P Devlin 0-3, M Donnelly 0-1.

Scorers for UL: D Conway 0-9 (5f), J O’Rourke 1-0

UUJ: S McCormack (Kildare); G McCartan (Down), A McClean (Antrim), R Pickering (Tyrone); C McGinley (Tyrone), L McLoone (Donegal), C Sheridan (Leitrim); C Murray (Antrim), N McAdam (Monaghan); C Clarke (Down), P Devlin (Down), P Hughes (Tyrone); M Donnelly (Tyrone), C Hughes (Monaghan), D McNulty (Tyrone).

Subs: R McNab (Tyrone) for C McGinley (42), D McKenna (Monaghan) for C Murray (49) S McGuigan (Tyrone) for D McNulty (58)

UL: J Lyster (Kildare); M Culloty (Kerry), M Moloney (Kerry), J O’Brien (Leitrim); F Fitzgerald (Kerry), E Doyle (Kildare), D Dolan (Mayo); T Ladden (Kerry), D Niblock (Cork), J O’Rourke (Cork), J Sherwood (Kerry), M Cahalane (Cork); D Conway (Laois), P Austin (Tipperary), M Geaney (Kerry).

Subs: C Dempsey for J Sherwood (44) L Mulligan (Kerry) for M Cahalane (53), P O’Connor (Kerry) for J O’Brien (55).

Referee: J. Curley (Meath).