University of Limerick 3-17

Limerick Institute of Technology 1-10

Páraic McMahon reports from The Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

WITH ALL THE twists and turns on whether this final would actually be played, one would have been forgiven for expecting a game to remember would be on the cards, sadly that was not to be the case as it was the university men from Limerick that claimed the spoils in a forgettable outing.

What made it even more frustrating for spectators that despite having to pay to attend the All-Ireland final there was no match programme or team list to assist them in identifying players or documenting the occasion.

It was only three minutes before throw in that LIT arrived to the Gaelic Grounds and immediately took to the field having conducted their warm-up at their Moylish campus.

Not alone did they leave it late to show their presence before the match, the same applied during their second-half showing as UL powered to a fifteen point victory.

Only one point separated the sides in the opening half with both outfits putting in underwhelming displays for the first thirty minutes.

The hard-working Cathal Ruane netted the opening goal of the game on eighteen minutes while an excellent individual effort from Daniel Ryan on the twenty fifth minute put LIT one point clear. However points from Joe Fogarty and Ciaran Comerford would leave UL ahead at the half-time whistle.

Although the consistent Billy Seymour levelled matters for Brian Culbert’s charges within two minutes of the restart, they would only add a further three scores for the remainder while UL tacked on a total of 2-10.

An excellent Billy Power goal on forty minutes was the turning point, LIT’s heads dropped and UL went from strength to strength with a nice Oisin Flannery green flag piling on the damage shortly after.

Though neither side played to their best, the winners deserved to prevail and were the more balanced side with Bryan O’Mara, Mark Nolan, Tommy O’Connell, Billy Power and Killian McDermott who was sharp to every single ball breaking ball most impressive for the team managed by Joe McGrath, a father of Conor and Maire who both play senior inter-county for Clare.

This was LIT’s first appearance in a Freshers Hurling All-Ireland final. They could have easily taken the title having been awarded following the match that never went ahead last month but they wanted to fair play and deserve praise for that alone.

Billy Seymour, Daniel Ryan and Michael Grace had their moments for LIT but to only score 1-02 from play at this stage of the competition was never going to be enough.

Scorers for UL: Tommy O’Connell 0-9 (7frees, 1 65), Cathal Ruane and Oisin Flannery 1-1 each, Billy Power 1-0, Niall Brennan and Joe Fogarty 0-2 each, Ciaran Comerford and Killian McDermott 0-1 each.

Scorers for LIT: Billy Seymour 0-9 (8frees), Daniel Ryan 1-1.

UL

1: Eoin Davis (Cork)

2: Conor Flahive (Limerick)
3: Ross Hayes (Clare)
4: Conor O’Callaghan (Cork)

7: Rory Duff (Limerick)
6: Bryan O’Mara (Tipperary)
20: Mark Nolan (Kilkenny)

9: Killian McDermott (Clare)
8: Ciaran Comerford (Laois)

10: Joe Fogarty (Tipperary)
11: Oisin Flannery (Galway)
12: Billy Power (Waterford)

15: Tommy O’Connell (Cork)
14: Cathal Ruane (Clare)
13: Niall Brennan (Kilkenny)

Subs:

18: Tom O’Rourke (Clare) for Ruane (51)
17: Conor Nicholas (Limerick) (Capt) for Flahive)
21: Jack Reck (Wexford) for Power (60)

LIT

1: Louis Dee (Limerick)

2: Paul O’Heaney (Tipperary)
3: Michael Grace (Tipperary)
4: Colm Flaherty (Galway)

5: Barry Mahony (Kerry)
6: Ciaran Whelan (Carlow)
7: Brian Staunton (Kilkenny)

17: Josh McCarthy (Tipperary)
9: Ciaran Keenan (Clare)

12: Cathal Lynch (Clare)
11: Conor Donohue (Dublin)
10: Daniel Ryan (Tipperary)

15: Conor McCarthy (Tipperary)
14: Billy Seymour (Tipperary)
15: Ross Bonnar (Tipperary)

Subs:

18: Adam Healy (Tipperary) for J McCarthy (41)
19: Conor Dolan (Galway) for Keenan (49)
20: Shane Normoyle (Limerick) for C McCarthy (57)

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork)

Gavan Casey and Ryan Bailey are joined by Bernard Jackman to look back on a thrilling weekend of European rugby on the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly:

The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud