Saturday’s 2023 Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup final will be a repeat of last year’s showdown between UL and University of Galway after the two sides came through tense encounters against SETU Waterford and UCC respectively on Thursday night.
University of Galway looked to be in huge trouble when Brian Hayes’s second-half goal left them five points in arrears against UCC with less than 15 minutes remaining at St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield in Clare. But Jeffrey Lynskey’s side dug deep to level the game and then powered past UCC in extra-time, with Galway senior stars Tiernan Killeen and Alex Connaire very much to the fore.
UG would have been the happier side at half-time, too, having played into a deceptively strong breeze and come through still on level terms, 1-4 to 0-7, with their goal coming from Greg Thomas.
UCC played their best hurling in the third quarter with goals from Shane Barrett and Hayes at either end of their dominant spell helping them into a five-point lead. Evan Niland had a mixed night from frees, scoring 0-12 but missing his fair share too. However he nailed some pressure shots in the closing minutes, with Killeen stepping up to fire over the score that sent the sides into extra-time.
The winners kept the wind for the first half of extra-time and they made it count with the only three points of the spell, two for Niland and one for Connaire. And they held firm through the second period of extra-time as well, trading scores to stay a goal in front, 1-24 to 2-18.
Niland had a chance to add an insurance point with just one minute of added time to play but he pushed his free wide, opening the door for one last UCC opportunity to level it. But Daire Connery’s free from the edge of the arc was pushed narrowly wide of the near post with the last puck.
SETU Waterford were huge underdogs for their home clash with UL, but they pushed the reigning champions to the wire. And in the end it took 0-13 from Gearóid O’Connor and a huge double save from Dean Mason, denying Gavin Fives and Seán Walsh, to ensure that they advanced by 0-19 to 0-16.
The Waterford students hit the ground running to lead by 0-6 to 0-3, but UL struck the next five in a row, including a wonderful score from Colin Coughlan. However, SETU Waterford rallied again and moved 0-12 to 0-8 ahead, largely on the back of frees from Reuben Halloran, before being dragged back to level at half-time by four more O’Connor scores.
Mason’s double save and a couple of missed SETU Waterford opportunities for points shifted the momentum of the game UL’s way early in the second half, and without ever playing their best hurling, they kept their noses in front right until the closing minutes. Billy Nolan had a chance to level the game from an injury-time free, but it wasn’t to be as his effort to be blocked by the wall of bodies on the UL goal-line.
