UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY 0-20 SETU CARLOW 2-11
SETU Carlow bowed out of the Fitzgibbon Cup at the quarter-final stage to an Evan Niland inspired University of Galway side in Dangan on Thursday evening.
Michael Dempsey’s team could hardly have wished for a better start to the game when they scored two goals in the opening three minutes, leaving them with 2-1 on the scoreboard, but they only scored ten points in the remainder of the game.
They came up against a Galway side with Niland at the peak of his game, while Carlow free taker Eoin Cody couldn’t quite have the same impact as he had in Carlow’s previous game against DCU when he scored 1-12. In that game, a 20 metre free in the final quarter that Cody fired to the DCU net proved crucial in the win but there was no such luck here and two similar efforts were blocked on the line in the closing stages.
Carlow’s Chris Nolan got the first of the goals on the night and Galway barely had time to draw breath before Thomas Keyes got in for the second to leave the score at 2-1 to 0-2.
Chris Nolan scored 1-1 but it wasn’t enough to help SETU Carlow progress
Photo: ©INPHO/Evan Treacy
However, Niland’s frees from all sorts of ranges played Galway into the game and they scored five points in a row between the ninth and 17th minutes to get back on level terms.
Carlow were beginning to really struggle in the attacking third by now but Cian Kenny landed a badly needed score in the 21st minute to nudge them back into the lead.
However, that was their final score of the half and two more Niland frees and another point by Eoin Lawless left Galway ahead by 0-12 to 2-4 at the break.
Carlow had what breeze there was behind them in the second half and outscored Galway by 0-3 to 0-1 in the first ten minutes to tie the game again, Nolan firing over an impressive point during that spell.
Then came the decisive period of the game when Galway outscored Carlow by 0-6 to 0-1 over the next ten minutes. Ultimately, that proved spell proved to be the winning of the game. Carlow just couldn’t get their hands on the ball during the time and couldn’t do anything to stem the flow of scores.
Carlow battled away through the last ten minutes and had one of Cody’s 20 metre frees found the net it could have changed the course of the match but as it was, Galway defended well and progress to the final four.
Scorers for UG: E Niland 0-11 (0-10fs), D O’Brien 0-2, A Connaire 0-2, E Lawless 0-1, B Concannon 0-1, G Thomas 0-1, O Flannery 0-1, J O’Meara 0-1.
Scorers for SETUC: E Cody 0-5f, C Nolan 1-1, T Keyes 1-1, C Burke 0-2, K Ryan 0-1, C Kenny 0-1.
UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY: Liam Reilly; Thomas Hynes, Oisín Salmon, Mark Hardiman; Eoin Lawless, Tiernan Killeen, Colm Cunningham; Alex Connaire, Ian McGlynn; Brian Concannon, Evan Niland, Darren O’Brien; Oisín Flannery, Greg Thomas, Niall Collins. Subs: Jack O’Meara for Collins, 38; Reuben Davitt for Flannery, 53.
SETU CARLOW: James Lawlor; Adam Daly, Podge Delaney, Paudie Casey; Gearóid Lynch, Danny Blanchfield, Ciarán Burke; James O’Connell, Cian Kenny; Kenny Ryan, Eoin Cody, Thomas Keyes; Mark Troy, Chris Nolan, Jack Morrissey. Subs: Tom Doyle for Ryan, (24-28 b/s), Nicolas Redmond for Doyle, h/t; Richard Foley for O’Connell, 37; Doyle for Morrissey, 47.
Referee: Niall Malone (Clare).
