Fitzgibbon Cup down to the final four

Galway promises to be a hive of activity this coming weekend as thousands of hurlers and supporters descent upon the city and its environs for the annual Fitzgibbon Cup Weekend.

The Fitzgibbon Cup this year promises to be an interesting one, as the four teams that that have reached the semi finals have very little between them and all four are more than capable of talking the silverware home with them after Saturday’s Final.

For one of the competing sides it promises to be an exciting one as standing to be corrected on this, not only have Mary Immaculate College from Limerick won the competition before, nor have they reached the final, this is the first time that they have reached the finals weekend.

At the other end of the scale, University College Cork, who are the holders of the competition have won it a record forty times, while University College Dublin has won it thirty times and Waterford Institute of Technology have won it on eight occasions some of its earlier successes coming under the name of the colleges former name Waterford Regional Technical College.

The semi finals of the Fitzgibbon Cup are scheduled to take place at Carnmore on Friday afternoon.

The first game sees Mary Immaculate College take on Waterford Institute of Technology at 12-45.

Both sides have very serious panels and both will fancy their chances of reaching Saturday’s finals.

In the competition up to know, both sides have played some good hurling and if they can bring the form shown in the last few weeks into this game, those that show up to see the game could well be in for an entertaining game.

The Limerick College side began their campaign with an 0-18 a piece draw against NUI Galway and had another share of the spoils in the second round of games when they drew 1-13 a piece against University College Cork. In the third series of games in the league section of competition they had a very good win over GMIT on a scoreline of 2-14 to 1-8.

Last time out in the quarter finals, they once more impressed beating Dublin Institute of Technology 1-18 to 0-15.

The Limerick sides leading scorer by some distance is their full forward John Conlon who has hit thirty-four points in four games, most of which have come from frees. If the Waterford students were to show indiscipline in the clash between the two, it can be taken that the Conlon will punish the side.

However they are not over depending on him for scores as they have a very dangerous full forward line which also contains Waterford’s Brian O’Halloran and Cork’s Luke O’Farrell who have between them hit 2-7, while Colm Galvin and Declan Hannon have featured steadily in the scoring stakes for Eamon Cregan’s charges, hitting thirteen points between them in four games.

The Suir Side Students have a solid look about them this year. Since their first success in the competition in 1992 they have proven to be regular attenders at this stage of the competition and have had former Tipperary hurler Colm Bonner involved in many of their successes either as a player or as a coach.

Having given much of his time to the Wexford Senior Hurlers in recent years, he is back at the helm once more with the Cork Road Students and has guided them to the finals weekend having played some impressive hurling.

There is plenty of experience within the team. Waterford goalkeeper Stephen O’Keeffe will start between the posts. Having missed last weekends National League opener against Clare, Liam Lawlor is expected to be fit to start this game at full back where he could well be flanked by fellow inter county corner back Noel Connor’s and Ballygunner’s second Stephen O’Keeffe.

Outside of them Wayne Hutchinson would be expected to start at Centre back, Luke Harney and Stephen Roche should start in the middle of the field while in attach Harry Kehoe, Michael Sheedy, Eoin Murphy, Martin O’Neill, Jake Dillon and Gavin O’Brien have started all three game played to date (against IT Carlow, Cork IT and Limerick IT), but don’t be too surprized if one was to miss out and Pauric Mahony was to fill in.

One interesting (maybe) tit-bit on this game is that Timmy Hammersley who has played with Waterford Institute of Technology in recent years is assisting Eamon Cregan and will know the strengths and weaknesses of many of the Waterford players.

The second semi final sees the holders University College Cork take on University College Dublin also at Carnmore with the game having a 2-30 start.

Like the earlier semi final this game promises to be an exciting affair that could well go to the wire.

On both sides there is an array of inter county experience. For the Dublin side Noel McGrath (Tipperary) as well as Wexford’s Jack Tennyson should feature, but it remains to be seen if the Kilkenny trio of Walter Walsh, John Tennyson and Cillian Buckley will play any part. While for the holders, Cork’s Conor Lehane and William Egan as well as the Waterford duo of Darragh Fives and Brian O’Sullivan are expected to play major parts.

To reach this stage of the competition the Rebel Students have recorded wins over GMIT and NUI Galway in the group stages of the competition and also had a draw against Mary Immaculate College while last time out in the quarter finals in a repeat of last years final they had a 1-13 to 1-11 victory over Cork Institute of Technology.

To reach this stage of the completion University College Dublin have beaten Limerick Institute of Technology and Dublin City University in the group stages of the competition and in the quarter finals had a 1-16 to 0-17 win over University of Limerick.

The sides clashed at the quarter final stages of the competition last year with the Cork side on home soil winning out 1-22 to 2-13.

UCC have a number of players that were involved last year including Darren McCarthy, Stephen Maher, Killian Murphy, James Barry, Darragh Fives, William Egan, Dan McCormack and Brian O’Sullivan who all either played or were subs that day.

The side from the capital are not short of experience. Nicky English is a very astute coach and his experience on the line will be vital. So too will be that of Oisin Gough, Shane Norton, James Gannon, Noel McGrath, Donal Fox and Garreth Sinnott on the field of play.

Tipperary’s Noel McGrath has hit twenty six points for his side this year, most of which have come from frees. He will be vital to his side’s chances and when presented with a chance he will punish the opposition.

An interesting (Maybe) tit bit from this game is that in their games played to date, UCD have hit nineteen points in game to date (2-13 in one game and 1-16 in the other two games, while UCC have stuck 1-13 in three of their four games played to date in this years competition. Is this statistic telling us something?

Waterford Institute of Technology and University College Dublin go into the game as the favourites. Last time out the favourites to win the four games in the quarter finals came through. Will it happen this time?

For what it is worth, I don’t think the two favourites will advance to Saturday’s final. While I see Waterford Institute of Technology having a small margin to spare over Mary Immaculate College, I see the holders if they can prove to be disciplined and therefore restricting the amount of chances that Noel McGrath will have striking at the posts I see them advancing to Saturday’s final setting up a Cork and Waterford final in Pearce Stadium which is to be shown live on TG4 on Saturday afternoon. If it does happen this way, could we have another Cork/Waterford final that could well prove to be one of the classics that we have become accustomed to when Cork and Waterford clash on the senior inter county scene over the past decade and a half.