Leinster club hurling championship: UCD 1-14 Coolderry 0-7 So UCD are just a game away from giving Dublin the second most cherished prize in club hurling, a provincial title. They've beaten the Offaly champions Coolderry with the help of one of Offaly's best forwards and an equally talented spread from Kilkenny, Wexford, Limerick and Tipperary.
In fact the Dublin champions didn't have one Dublin player on their team because they're not really allowed to. Has this stopped making sense already? Certainly those in Portlaoise yesterday couldn't see much sense to it. They were practically all from Coolderry, neatly packed into one end of the stand and roaring and shouting in vain as the finest hurlers from their parish took on some of the finest hurlers from the country. They gave it a fair old rattle but UCD's given superiority meant one team was always going to prevail.
Allowing a team like UCD into the club championship is an old and exhausted argument, but it still resurfaces whenever they're actually playing well. Word is the Dublin County Board mightn't let them enter next year. In the meantime though, they're set to meet the Kilkenny champions James Stephens in the Leinster final, and play for a title they've yet to win.
For Dave Billings, who manages the UCD team along with Babs Keating, the most important thing now is to keep on winning. He's argued the UCD case a thousand times: "That's 11 matches we've had now including the Dublin championship," he said, "so hopefully we can win one more."
UCD's only previous final appearance was four years ago, when they lost to Graigue-Ballycallan. The ease with which they won yesterday suggests their time has come. "Well I wouldn't compare this team to the one we had four years ago," added Billings. "But it is still very young, with the average age no more than 23. But Coolderry really put it up to us there for the first 20 minutes, and we were very lucky not to give away a goal. We just worked hard, stuck to our own game plan, and thankfully that got us through."
Had Coolderry managed to get a goal in the opening minutes they might at least have remained competitive for a while longer. They were certainly fired up for the challenge, and straightaway hit UCD with all they had. Damien Murray sent their first goal chance just wide, and a short while later Dermot Dooley's shot was well stopped by Matty White.
Instead they went just the couple of points up, a free from Murray and a point from Cathal Parlon inside the first three minutes. Sadly that was as good as they got. Brian Barry of Kilkenny was soon lording midfield and his free and 65 brought UCD level on seven minutes. After that it all went steadily downhill for Coolderry.
They had a few more assaults on the UCD goal but Wexford's David O'Connor, who started at full back, handled them all with typical strength and reliability.
At the other end, Offaly forward Brendan Murphy pushed UCD ahead with his first of three perfectly accurate frees.
After 15 minutes Coolderry were already relying on the brief counterattack, but three poor wides in succession, two from Brian Carroll, didn't help their spirits. Then on 18 minutes Wexford's Redmond Barry set up Eamon Ryan in front of the Coolderry goal and the Tipperary player couldn't miss. UCD were 1-4 to 0-2 clear and the inevitability of it all had closed in.
Coolderry didn't drop their heads just yet. Kevin Brady and Martin Corcoran rallied the cause from down the field, and helped to set up Murray with two 65s - both of which he sent between the posts. So just the goal separated them at half-time.
What killed the game though was Coolderry going the first 16 minutes of the second half without a score. Brian Barry was still in outstanding form for UCD, helping to set up six unanswered points, the best of which came from Redmond Barry, Bryan Phelan and Brian Hogan.
With Stephen Lucy helping to inflict further damage over the last quarter of an hour, UCD ended with complete dominance. They don't have any senior Dublin players because they all play for their Dublin clubs, but they clearly have a team that is more than just a match for any parish in the province. Perhaps even the whole country.
UCD: M White; R Kirwan, D O'Connor, E Campion; D Walton, M Fitzgerald, B Hogan (0-1); B Barry (0-4, two 65s, one free), S Lucey; P Morrissey, B Phelan (0-3), J O'Connor; B Murphy (0-4, three frees), E Ryan (1-0), R Barry (0-1). Subs: A Smith (0-1) for O'Connor (half-time), T Murphy for R Barry (51 mins), P Doheny for Murphy (57 mins), B Buckley for Campion (58 mins).
COOLDERRY: E Kennedy; T Corcoran, B O'Meara, A Corcoran; K Brady, J Brady, B Teehan; A Hall, M Corcoran; B Carroll (0-2), S Tooher, Dermot Dooley; C Parlon (0-2), P Teehan, D Murray (0-3, two 65s, one free). Subs: P O'Connor for Dooley (37 mins), David Dooley for Tooher (39 mins), D Masterson for P Teehan (44 mins), K Teehan for Hall (52 mins).
Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).
