Four-goal UL seal home Fitzgibbon Cup quarter final with impressive win over DCU

Brian Ryan's star studded crew were good here, but they weren't great, and they still won by 13 points to claim a home last-eight spot.

BATTLE: DCU Dochas Eireann's Sean Rowley with Keith Smyth and Adam English of University of Limerick. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo.

UL 4-24 DCU 1-20

They've been saying since the start of January that UL's name is on the Fitzgibbon Cup again this season, and perhaps they're right.

Brian Ryan's star studded crew were good here, but they weren't great, and they still won by 13 points to claim a home quarter-final spot.

This was a repeat of last year's final and yet UL still won with plenty to spare despite racking up 16 wides and leaving a couple more goals behind them.

They went from third gear in the first half to fourth gear after the restart, inflicting yet more misery on old rivals DCU in that second period.

Limerick's Adam English scored two of their goals, and finished with 2-1, while Darragh McCarthy and Adam Screeney grabbed the others.

Those three names alone suggest excellence and at times UL delivered on their potential, linking up for some sumptuous scores.

Screeney's goal approaching half-time which left UL 2-11 to 1-11 up was perhaps the pick of the bunch.

McCarthy won the ball with his back to goal, spun away from Andrew Keegan - who fouled and was booked for it but still couldn't stop McCarthy - and fed Screeney with an arrowed stick pass. From about 25 metres out on the right, Screeney stuck it in the far corner of the net. Simple as that.

UL didn't have it all their own way though and even with 10 minutes to go, when they led by just six, 3-16 to 1-16, would have taken a double digit winning margin with open arms.

They turned on the afterburners in the closing period with English grabbing his second goal and UL's fourth in the 54th minute.

Oisin O'Donoghue, McCarthy and the excellent Jack O'Neill, who struck 0-5 overall, added late points too.

UL's reward for topping Group A is a home quarter-final against the winners of UCC v Garda, who meet in Templemore on Thursday afternoon.

DCU have finished second in the group so aren't out of the competition and will have a trip to MTU Cork in the last eight.

There was a worrying moment for the hosts, who staged the game on the artificial surface at their St Clare's grounds, when midfielder Sean Rowley took a huge, accidental, hit to the head from Waterford's Mark Fitzgerald.

Rowley had to be helped off the field and having earlier sniped two points his 45th minute departure robbed DCU of craft and dynamism in the middle third.

DCU were always chasing UL, bouncing back from conceding the first three points of the game with 1-3 themselves to take a brief lead.

Carlow's Donagh Murphy fired the DCU goal but they could have done with another one and both Peter Clarke and Denis Walsh were denied.

Walsh was solid on the frees for DCU who fell into UL's slipstream late in the first-half and never really came out.

Elsewhere Mary Immaculate College booked their place in the quarter-final with a 1-24 to 5-9 victory over ATU Galway.

UL scorers: A English 2-1; A O'Connor 0-6 (1 free, 1 65); D McCarthy 1-2; A Screeney 1-1; J O'Neill 0-5; O O'Donoghue, J Ormond 0-2 each; K Smyth, O Fitzgerald, C O'Neill, C Martin, D Langan 0-1 each.

DCU scorers: D Murphy 1-5; D Walsh 0-8 (7 frees); S Rowley 0-2; D Shirley, B Reid, C Beirne, P Clarke, N Hogan 0-1 each.

UL: D Fahy (Galway); C Smyth (Cork), O Fitzgerald (Cork), J Conneally (Clare); C Coughlin (Limerick), M Fitzgerald (Waterford), C O'Neill (Limerick); A English (Limerick), F Fitzgerald (Limerick); O O'Donoghue (Tipperary), J O'Neill (Clare), K Smyth (Clare); A Screeney (Offaly), A O'Connor (Limerick), D McCarthy (Tipperary).

Subs: D Stritch (Clare) for Smyth (28); J Fitzgerald (Limerick) for F Fitzgerald (h/t); J Ormond (Tipperary) for Screeney (45); D Langan (Limerick) for O'Neill (48); C Martin (Tipperary) for M Fitzgerald (48).

DCU: S Manogue (Kilkenny); P Lennon (Kilkenny), A Keegan (Dublin), L O'Reilly (Kildare); B Reid (Kilkenny), C Boran (Kildare), S Gallagher (Dublin); D Shirley (Offaly), S Rowley (Wexford); C Beirne (Kilkenny), D Murphy (Carlow), D Walsh (Kilkenny); P Clarke (Westmeath), S Byrne (Kilkenny), O Gaffney (Dublin).

Subs: E O'Brien (Kildare) for Keegan (29); G Kelly (Kilkenny) for Gaffney and D O'Meara (Kildare) for Gallagher (h/t); J Carroll (Kilkenny) for Rowley (45, inj); N Hogan (Dublin) for Beirne (49); R Delaney (Wexford) for Reid (57).

Referee: J Owens (Wexford).