Galway colleges crash out of Fitzgibbon Cup after losing vital ties

Date Published: 13-Feb-2013

Mary Immaculate 2-14

GMIT 1-8

Fitzgibbon Cup hosts GMIT have crashed out of the competition after receiving a lesson of sorts from teaching college, Mary Immaculate of Limerick. in their final group game in a wet Carnmore on Tuesday.

The loss itself will no doubt bite hard with GMIT – had they won, they would have qualified for the quarter-finals – but the manner of their exit will be even more upsetting, given this performance fell someway short of the high levels of intensity they had brought to their opening two fixtures against UCC and NUIG.

In any event, once GMIT went behind to the Fitzgibbon debutantes in the second quarter, the Galway based college never really looked like getting anything from this contest. Yes, a flicker of hope was always there – they managed to reduce the arrears to three points in the final quarter – but, even then, they needed a broad stroke of luck if they were to secure a result.

It didn’t help that their top scorer – and, possibly, only real threat up front – Liam Mellows and Galway’s Tadgh Haran was forced to retire from the action with an ankle injury on 36 minutes, by which time Mary Immaculate held a 1-8 to 1-3 lead.

It was a credit to GMIT then that they managed to outscore the visitors five points to three over the next 20 minutes or so, as Ballinderreen’s Kevin Lane, Kilnadeema/Leitrim’s Shane Lawless, Killimordaly’s Darragh Cooney, Loughrea’s Paul Hoban (free) and Crusheen’s Conor O’Donnell all found the target.

Despite that spirited rally, which left GMIT trailing by 1-11 to 1-8, it was always going to take something special from the home side to preserve their Fitzgibbon Cup aspirations and against a slick Mary Immaculate outfit – and in the incessant rain – this never looked likely.

In truth, there could be no argument with the result. Although Clare’s Aidan Lynch netted a super goal – following good work from Kenny Feeney and Lawless – on 10 minutes to put GMIT 1-1 to 0-2 ahead, the major was against the run of play.

As if to substantiate this point, Mary Immaculate immediately shifted up through the gears and in the second quarter outscored GMIT by 1-5 to a point, with that GMIT score coming from a Haran free three minutes into injury time.

In contrast, Mary Immaculate were buzzing. Cork’s Luke O’Farrell seized upon a William Hickey delivery and rattled one off beyond Portumna keeper Joe Keane for his side’s opening goal on 17 minutes before adding a point moments later.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.