Whirlwind finish keeps NUIG in the mix

The round robin format of the Fitzgibbon Cup has robbed it of a lot traditional drama but these twoproduced a finale at Dangan yesterday which was a throwback to former days in the competition.

DIT, having lost their opening game to Carlow IT, seemed set to limp out of this year’s tournament when they trailed by 1-8 to 0-7 going into the last minute of normal time. But the Dublin students, who looked the sharper, almost sealed a dramatic win.

Dublin senior David Treacy flung over a couple of frees and in the third minute of extra-time dropped in a free from the left which Paul Morris flicked to the net to put them a point up.

“It’s such a pity we didn’t hold on after that. I thought we had it,” said the Wexford U21 afterwards.

But their hopes were dashed as NUIG staged one final rally and Clare’s Caimin Morey won a free in front of the posts. Niall Burke, who hit seven wides, kept his composure to land the equaliser from about 25 yards and secure the draw which may be enough for them to advance.

“At least it is in our own hands now. It looked like we were going to win it, then it looked like it was gone from us, so in the end we were happy to settle for the draw,” said NUIG manager Johnny Kelly.

A draw or a narrow defeat away to Carlow next Tuesday will be enough to secure a passage to the quarter-finals for NUIG.

DIT were the better side in the opening half and Ciaran O’Shaughnessy landed a brace of points to help open up a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after 18 minutes. It could have been more but an effort from Treacy, who got the opening point, was superbly saved by Clare goalkeeper Donal Tuohy.

Niall Burke finally got NUIG off the mark after 20 minutes and while Morris extended DIT’s lead just after the restart to 0-6 to 0-3, NUIG took control and hit 1-4 without reply, with sub Shane Quinlan finishing after a good run by Morey.

Dublin’s Treacy led the latecomeback in the whirlwind conclusion but the late equalising free by Burke has probably ended their interest in this year’s competition.

Scorers for NUIG: N Burke 0-5 (1f), S Quinlan 1-0, D Higgins, M Kelly, D Burke, JP O’Connell 0-1 each.

Scorers for DIT: D Treacy 0-5 (4fs, 1 sideline), P Morris 1-1, C O’Shaughnessy 0-2, J Mulrooney 0-1.

NUIG: D Tuohy (Clare); D Magner (Offaly), E Fahy (Galway), S McCormack (Tipperary); P Kelly (Clare), D Kenny (Offaly), M Kelly (Galway); JP O’Connell (Galway), C Diviney (Galway); D Higgins (Galway), N Burke (Galway), D Burke (Galway); E Hayes (Clare), C Morey (Clare), R Shanahan (Clare).

Sub: S Quinlan (Tipperary) for Shanahan (41).

DIT: F McGarry (Dublin); D English (Carlow), O Walsh (Kilkenny), L Prendergast (Wexford); D Curran (Wexford), P Hartley (Kilkenny), J Diviney (Galway); J Mulrooney (Offaly), C O’Shaughnessy (Wexford); P Whelan (Kilkenny), M Maloney (Kilkenny), N Quinn (Galway); P Morris (Wexford), A McInerney (Dublin), D Treacy (Dublin).

Subs: M Murphy (Kilkenny) for Maloney (33), E Doyle (Kilkenny) for English (35), P Kelly (Dublin) for Curran (51), G McManus (Dublin) for Murphy (56).

Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).