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CIT show title credentials

FITZGIBBON CUP FIRST ROUND: Cork IT 1-17 UCD 0-15 CORK IT served notice last night they’ll challenge strongly this year by out…

Thu Feb 09 2012 - 00:00

FITZGIBBON CUP FIRST ROUND:Cork IT 1-17 UCD 0-15 CORK IT served notice last night they'll challenge strongly this year by out-classing a strong UCD team. Not surprisingly for a team that reached last year's Cork club championship final, CIT hurled with cohesion and purpose, and in the end UCD couldn't cope with their pace, power and finishing.

Their biggest problem, though, was that they were heavily reliant on the free-taking of Noel McGrath to keep them in the contest, whereas the Cork college had multiple attacking threats in the shape of men like Colin Fennelly, Paudie O’Sullivan, David Drake and Tommy Quaid.

An early goal from Kilkenny star Fennelly got them off to the perfect start, but UCD stuck doggedly to their task and by half-time led by a point, 0-8 to 1-4.

CIT upped through the gears at the start of the second half to score a quick-fire sequence of four points, and they never let the initiative slip thereafter. They played some sublime hurling in the final 15 minutes in particular, as Drake and substitute Pádraig Gould scored classy points.

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Were UCD not such a hard-working and determined outfit they would have been blown away by the Cork side, but any glimmer of hope they had of summoning up an unlikely comeback was crushed when Noel McGrath’s fiercely-struck 25-yard free was deflected over the bar in the dying minutes of the match.

CORK IT:K Roche (Cork); B Weathers (Cork), S McDonnell (Cork), S Daniels (Waterford); S White (Cork), L McLoughlin (Cork), M Ellis (Cork); J Coughlan (Cork, 0-2, 1 free), M O'Sullivan (Cork); J Cronin (Cork), D Drake (Cork, 0-4), C Casey (Cork); C Fennelly (Kilkenny, 1-1), P O'Sullivan (Cork, 0-3), T Quaid (Limerick, 0-5, 3f). Subs: P Gould (0-2, 1f) for C Casey (47 mins); P O'Connor (Clare) for M O'Sullivan (54).

UCD:J Ryan (Galway); D Nash (Clare), M O'Hanlon (Wexford), J Dougan (Dublin); O Gough (Dublin), C Allis (Limerick, 0-1), S Norton (Kilkenny); D Fox (Galway 0-1), N McGrath (Tipperary, 0-11, 9f); A Smith (Galway, 0-1), D Plunkett (Dublin), C Kenny (Kilkenny), D O'Sullivan (Waterford), W Walsh (Kilkenny), G Sinnott (Wexford). Sub: J Gilligan (Dublin, 0-1) for A Smyth (43 mins).

Referee: J McGrath (Westmeath).