Fitzgibbon Cup: Two in a row for UCC
March 02, 2013
Mary Immaculate's John Conlon and William Hickey with Dara Fives of UCC ©INPHO/James Crombie
Mary Immaculate 2-12
A Seamus Harnedy goal spurred UCC on to their second successive Fitzgibbon Cup at Pearse Stadium, Salthill today.
Conor Lehane gave a Man of the Match display for the winners, scoring 1-9 of their tally.
Goals from a 21 yard free courtesy of John Conlon and another from Conor Cooney late on for Mary Immaculate were not enough as UCC delivered a strong second half performance.
Eamonn Cregan's charges received a huge boost before the game as Declan Hannon was cleared to play by the CHC after receiving a red card in their semi-final win over WIT.
The Leesiders led by two at the interval: 0-9 to 0-7. Lehane fired over 0-6 (4f) of their total while Cooney, full forward Conlon, Sean Curran and Luke O'Farrell kept Mary I in touch.
Little or nothing separated the teams in the opening half. A Cooney point on 12 minutes had Mary 1 0-3 : 0-2 ahead, this one the only time they had led, but some excellent scoring from Lehane and Paul Haughney helped UCC regain their lead.
The impressive Lehane looked to have put UCC on their way with his goal on 39 minutes however, Mary Immaculate responded immediately with one of their own through Conlon.
A second UCC goal from Harnedy ended the match as a contest. The Cork man took advantage of some defensive errors from Mary I.
Cooney' blasted to the net two minutes from time but this proved to be only a consolation.
UCC Scorers - Conor Lehane (1-9, 7f), Seamus Harnedy (1-1), William Egan, Brian O'Sullivan 0-2 each, Paul Haughney, Adrian Breen and Dan McCormack 0-1 each.
Mary Immaculate Scorers - John Conlon (1-4, 1-3f), Conor Cooney (1-3, 1-0f), Sean Curran (0-3), Luke O'Farrell (0-2).
UCC - D McCarthy; S Maher, D Glynn, K Murphy; J Barry, D Fives, W Egan; P Haughney, B Murray; S Harnedy, D McCormack, Brian Lawton; B O'Sullivan, C Lehane, B Harnett. Subs: Barry Lawton for Murray, A Breen for McCormack, D Kearns for O'Halloran.
Mary Immaculate - S Nolan; C Fennessy, R O'Donnell, A Ryan; J Wall, D Hannon, Eanna Hogan; C Galvin, N O'Meara; B O'Halloran, W Hickey, C Cooney; S Curran, J Conlon, L O'Farrell. Subs: Eoin Hogan for Hickey, L Considine for Eanna Hogan.
Referee - B Kelly. Tweet
