Limerick 0-22 UCC 1-17
Limerick had to dig very deep before finally holding off UCC to earn a first ever Waterford Crystal Cup final meeting with Cork next weekend.
In what was a hugely entertaining end-to-end contest throughout, the teams were level on no fewer than ten occasions by the turn of the final quarter, with a late goal for UCC actually edging the students a point clear with only five minutes remaining before Limerick regained control to prevail.
Despite defeat, it was a hugely encouraging display from UCC, who are making final preparations for the Fitzgibbon Cup, which commences next Thursday against GMIT.
Cork senior duo Rob O'Shea and Conor Lehane provided the bulk of their scores, with the latter excelling in their second-half comeback that saw them reel in Limerick by the 47th minute at 0-13 to 0-13.
Limerick had previously held a 0-10 to 0-07 interval lead after a fiercely contested first half, thanks in the main to Thomas O'Brien's accuracy from frees (4) along with a brace of points each from Adrian Breen and Conor Allis.
Limerick appeared to be firmly in the driving seat at that stage but were simply unable to brush off the students who kept themselves within striking distance before Waterford's DJ Foran goaled for what seemed the decisive score in the 65th minute at 1-16 to 0-18.
Crucially, Limerick didn't panic however, and with substitute Shane Dowling's growing influence in that second half, they patiently overturned the scoreline in their favour to hold on for their first Waterford Crystal final appearance since the inaugural competition in 2006.
Limerick: N Quaid; S Walsh, R McCarthy, S Hickey; W McNamara, D O’Grady, D Morrissey; C Allis (0-02, 0-01f), C King (0-01); N Moran (0-01), J Ryan (0-02), C Lynch (0-02); T O’Brien (0-04f), P Begley (0-01), A Breen (0-03)
Subs: S Dowling (0-04, 0-02f) for O’Brien (Half-Time), T Condon for McNamara (Half-Time), T Morrissey (0-01) for Allis (45), P Browne (0-01) for King (52)
UCC: D O’Gorman; K Burke, D Glynn, M Breen; C Murphy, P Prendergast (0-01f), S Roche; D Roche (0-01), R O’Shea (0-04, 0-03f); S O’Keeffe (0-02), J Barron, C Lehane (0-06, 0-03f); B Hartnett, S O’Donnell (0-01), A Cadogan (0-02)
Subs: D Lestor for Burke (Half-Time), M Collins for O’Shea (39), E Finn for Lehane (50), DJ Foran (1-00) for O’Donnell (50), R Cahalane for Breen (58)
