UCC 2-21 Mary Immaculate College 0-13
UCC were crowned Fitzgibbon Cup champions, after a comfortable 14 point victory over Mary Immaculate College at WIT.
The victors were far better across all areas of the pitch and were the winning margin in no way flattered the victors.
Mary Immaculate College were very disappointing on the other hand and did not hurl anywhere near their potential, relying on Aaron Gillane for scores from frees throughout.
This victory marks a remarkable treble for UCC who lifted the Sigerson Cup in Gaelic football and the Collinwood Cup in soccer, along with this hurling triumph.
It was the Limerick college who opened the scoring courtesy of Michael O’Loughlin.
UCC responded with a place ball effort from Chris O’Leary, which was quickly cancelled out with a free from Limerick star Gillane.
David Griffin levelled procedures with a well-taken point, before UCC’s Mark Kehoe scored what was a spectacular goal.
Kehoe won the ball and got past a series of opposition defenders superbly, before finding the back of the net.
Three successive scores from Colm Roche gave the Cork College a six point advantage and it looked a long way back for Mary Immaculate college from this juncture.
Mary I responded with three scores of their own though courtesy of Aaron Gillane (2) and Colin O’Brien before Kehoe settled his side with a decent effort.
Two frees from Shane Conway left seven between them and a long range effort from wing-back Chris O’Leary gave UCC a 1-12 to 0-07 interval advantage.
The Limerick outfit needed a strong start to the second half and Jamie Wall’s side did come out of the traps quickly, with Gillane finding the target from a place ball effort.
Tipperary’s All-Ireland winning u21 captain Colin English split the posts with an effort to reduce the gap to six but that was as good as it got for Mary I as UCC took control of procedures for the remainder of the game.
Mark Kehoe added two points, before Gillane again found the target for his side.
The game was over as a contest after Conor Browne found the net in the 40th minute, with the UCC star converting from close range to give his side a ten-point advantage.
Mary Immaculate were never going to be able to claw back that deficit and UCC cruised through the remainder of the match.
Shane Kingston’s 61st minute score turned out to be the final score of the afternoon.
UCC: Jack Barry; Niall O’Leary (0-1), Eddie Gunning, Killian Dwyer; Chris O’Leary (0-2, 0-2f), Eoghan Murphy, David Griffin (0-1); Mark Coleman, Paddy O’Loughlin; Conor Browne (1-1), Shane Kingston (0-1), Colm Roche (0-3); Mark Kehoe (1-4), Shane Conway (0-6, 0-5f), Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-1).
Subs: Robbie O’Flynn (0-1) for Murphy (15), David Lowney for Dwyer (52), Dara Lynch for O’Leary (52), Ross Donohue for Roche (57), Dara Walsh for Fitzgibbon (59).
Mary Immaculate College: Eoghan Cahill, Eoghan Ryan, David Prendergast, Seamus Downey; Craig Morgan, Darren Browne, Thomas Grimes; Thomas Monaghan (0-1), Luke Meade (0-1); Aaron Gillane (0-8, 0-8f), Michael O’Loughlin (0-1), Colin O’Brien (0-1); Gary Cooney, Colin Guilfoyle, Phillip Hickey.
Subs: Brian Buckley for Downey (16), Colin English (0-1) for O’Loughlin (h-t), Ray McCormack for Hickey (44, b/s), Phillip Hickey for McCormack (46, b/s reversal) Sean Burke for Cooney (47), Ray McCormack for O’Brien (50).
Referee: James Owens (Wexford).
