UL put one foot into the quarter-finals of the Fitzgibbon Cup after coming away from Mary Immaculate College with a 5-15 to 3-14 victory this afternoon.

In what was a thrilling encounter, the champions needed all five goals from Tommy Heffernan (2), Jason Forde, Pat Ryan and Kevin O'Brien to ensure victory against the plucky hosts, for whom Limerick ace Declan Hannon (2-1) led the charge. 

In Dangan, NUIG were more comfortable in their 3-18 to 2-7 win over DIT while Cork IT had four points to spare (1-18 to 1-14) over UUJ in Jordanstown, with John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer very much to the fore for the visitors with 0-8.

However, the Tipperary star will miss the quarter-finals for the Cork students after being issued a straight red card for lashing out at UUJ defender Niall Devlin in the 45th minute.

There was another close contest at Limerick IT, where the hosts nabbed victory on a 0-18 to 1-14 score-line over UCD, with Treaty County star Diarmuid Byrnes (0-6) putting forth an outstanding second-half display for the winners.

UL - P Maher; S Finn, J Browne, S Roche; A McGuane, G Hegarty, B Stapleton; K Hehir (0-1), T Heffernan (2-2); J Forde (1-1f), T Morrissey (0-1), C Martin (0-1); J McGrath (0-5, 2f, 1'65), K O'Brien (1-0), D Fitzgerald (0-1). Subs: B Heffernan for S Finn, C McInerney (0-3) for G Hegarty, P Ryan (1-0) for D Fitzgerald, L O'Sullivan for T Morrissey.

Mary Immaculate College - M O Conghaile; E Quirke, R English, A Flynn; C Twomey (0-1), J Meagher, R Maher; T Stapleton (0-1), C Galvin (0-2); D Reidy (0-1), D O'Donovan (0-6, 4f), M O'Neill (0-1); D Corry, D Hannon (2-1), S Cahill (0-1). Subs: S Linnane (1-0) for D Reidy, C Barry for M O'Neill, S Taylor for T Stapleton, M O'Loughlin for S Cahill.

Referee - F Horgan.

**

NUIG - C Tuohy; C Ryan, B Fitzpatrick, G Forde; S Cooney, J Hanbury, P Mannion (0-2); N O'Brien (0-2), O Donnellan (0-2); B Duggan (0-7, 5f), K McHugo, M Mullins; J Fox (2-0), C Whelan (0-3), C Mannion (1-2). Subs: E Brannigan for N O'Brien, R Taylor for J Fox, L Kilcline for S Cooney, A Helebert for M Mullins, R Lane for O Donnellan.

DIT - P McKenna; S McClelland, T Doyle, C Robinson; D Guinan, W Irish, S Barrett; G Whelan (0-2), L Chin (0-1); R Greville, J Guiney (1-0), C Sheehan; AJ Murphy (0-1), D McNicholas (0-2, 1f), D Mottram. Subs: J Sweeney (1-0) for AJ Murphy, C O'Donoghue (0-1'65) for D Mottram, E McInerney for C Sheehan.

Referee - K McGeeney.

**

Cork IT - G Minehan; S Murphy, M Russell, C Hammersley (0-1); D Noonan (0-1), R Barry, A Coffey (0-2); B Cooper, B Reddan; M Kearney (0-2), J Cronin (0-2), R Hanley; N McNamara (0-1), J O'Dwyer (0-8, 3f, 2'65), P White (1-0). Subs: J Cashman (0-1f) for B Reddan, K O'Neill for R Hanley, A Dorgan for P White, S Manning for D Noonan.

UUJ - R Courtney; N Devlin, S Rooney, R Brannigan; G Walsh (0-2f), T Mannion, T O Ciaran (0-1); D McKernan (0-1), M Dudley; J McGreevy (0-1), S McAfee (0-2), A Kelly; J Connolly (1-1), J O'Connell (0-1), N McKeague (0-5, 3f, 1'65). Subs: A Dooey for M Dudley, J O'Dwyer for N McKeague, M Dudley for N Devlin, M McCartan for A Kelly, A Curtin for J O'Connell.

Referee - B Brady.

**

Limerick IT - E Quilligan; N O'Connor, K Bennett, C Nolan; W Ryan, C Barrett, O O'Brien; D Byrnes (0-6, 2f, 1'65), D Reidy (0-6, 5f); P Killeen, P Duggan (0-1), J Campion (0-3); J Shanahan, N Maher, M O'Malley (0-1). Subs: S Gleeson (0-1) for P Killeen, W Connors for C Nolan, S McGrath for N Maher.

UCD - D Holohan; P Hannon, S Murphy, E Conroy (0-1); J Madden, C O'Callaghan (0-1), C O'Shea (0-2, 1f); H Lawlor, S Moran (0-3); J Maher (1-1), C Prendergast, C Cronin; R King (0-1), O O'Rorke (0-4, 3f), J O'Connor. Subs: P Guinan for J O'Connor, T O'Leary (0-1) for C Prendergast, T Phelan for C Cronin, C Devitt for H Lawlor.

Referee - D Kirwan.

Check out the three first-half goals from UL's victory in the video below:

Video by Jerome Quinn for Higher Education GAA. 

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