There wouldnât be much nightlife in YoughalarraâŚ
WIT v UCD,
NUIG v Cork IT,
St. Patâs-Mater Dei v UUJ,
UL v UCC
all down for tomorrow in the Fitzgibbon Cup.
tamangos seem to be surviving despite the competition from wrights
Are they the best Fingal has to offer?
Four homes wins but two of them will be tight
Surely if the Harty has its own thread so then should the Fitz and Sigerson? Make it so Puke.
yerrah, i would wait til finals weekend for itâs own thread, it has historically been discussed in the club thread and being irish i am very much resistent to change
Hmmmmm. Perhaps. Both launched yesterday, Galvin on hand, bet into a pair of jeans as usual.
Getting back to Club stuff, two amalgamations in Laois hurling, Borris in Ossory and Kilcotton have merged after having great underage success over the past few years. Made sense as both were going nowhere fast on their own, but will be interesting to see how this goes.
Castletown and Slieve Bloom have also amalgamated, again theyâd joined at underage for some time and Castletown are very much the senior partnet given Bloom were looking like having to drop back to Junior B due to a raft of departures due to emigration. An attempted amalgamtion between Clonad and Shanahoe has failed and one between Abbeyleix and Ballinakill never made it off the ground.
In football news as said here before, Brendan Quigley is off to Fingallians of Dublin. His Laois team mate Rory Stapleton will be joining St Vincents bringing the total of Laois footballers competing in the Dublin SFC to something like 11 to the best of my knowledge.
I see tom kelly has called it a day as wellâŚ
Amalgamations, unfortunately, are the name of the day at the moment.
We wonât be able to field a minor hurling or football team for the 2nd year in a row (pop. 2,300), and will have to join up with a nearby town who are in the same boat. I donât know why thereâs such a lack of young fellas coming through, itâs the same for the minor soccer team in the town, so itâs not a problem specific to the GAA. You wouldnât have recognised half the teams in last years minor championship with all the amalgamations in there and this year will probably be worse.
Yea, Tom took a fierce bad blow to the head in a Club match about a year or more ago and has been told to call it quits. A savage athlete, its a tough blow to a lad who still had a lot to contribute to his Club, and Laois for that matter. Fierce sad, hope he doesnt experience any other issues from it as time goes on.
UL beat UCC by two pints with a late goalâŚ1-17 to 18 points or something similar
WIT & UCD drewâŚST Patâs hammered UUJ
The spots nightclub in Inistioge is a good spot.
I hear Joyce from Inistioge had a fine game for UL today
Great stuff,Kieran Joyce is a fine hurler,midfield is where id have him.
wing back I believeâŚ
Hogan to the rescue as UCD snatch late draw
Waterford IT 0-15 UCD 1-12
By John Murphy
Friday, January 28, 2011
IT MAY have taken a late quality point from full-forward Keith Hogan to save UCDâs bacon in this thrilling Fitzgibbon Cup game at WITâs Carriganore venue yesterday, but it was well deserved on a day hurling itself was the real winner.
The exchanges were frenetic, yet sportingly contested right through with the quality of the hurling also right out of the top drawer.
Add in the many outstanding individual performances on both sides and you had the very best possible start to the competition.
With first use of the stiffish breeze it took UCD less than two minutes to ease into the lead with a Cian MacGiolla Bhride point. But, four minutes later, ace marksman Timmy Hammersley had WIT level with the first of his eventual 10-point haul.
Already full-back Sean Cummins was emerging a hugely influential presence on the fringe of the UCD square and the more the game advanced, the more dominant he became. Tipperary All Star hero Noel McGrath was also beginning to lord the midfield area, and they were well worth their 0-5 to 0-2 lead midway through the half.
They would have been even better positioned, however, had not David OâConnor been denied a seemingly certain goal on 14 minutes when WIT goalkeeper Liam Tierney brilliantly deflected his effort out for a 65 which the unerring McGrath pointed.
Finding inspiration in that magnificent Tierney save, WIT clawed their way back, mainly through the free-taking accuracy of Hammersley. Michael Sheedy for WIT and outstanding wing back Niall Prendergast also exchanged superb points from play and the sides retired at the break deadlocked on 0-6 each.
With the wind behind them on the turnover it would have been WIT in the happier frame of mind, and when Kilkenny panellist John Mulhall rifled over the second of his two points from play to put them in front, UCD looked to be facing an uphill battle.
Their instant response however quelled any perceived fears of their capitulation and OâConnorâs equalising point set the tone for a rip-roaring second half.
The only goal of the game came in the 39th minute when the industrious Liam Rushe, a constant threat to the home defence, grabbed a MacGiolla Bhride centre and he had the ball nestling in the back of the net to give his side a 1-8 to 0-8 advantage.
McGrath was continuing to excel for UCD in the middle of the field and when Hammersley wasted a great goal chance inside 60 seconds of Rusheâs effort at the other end, a surprise result looked on.
An exchange of points between Hammersley and Hogan still left that goal separating them, but inspired by David Langton, Wayne Hutchinson, and Noel Connors in defence, WIT upped the ante and for the first time in the game put UCD under sustained pressure.
A rapid-fire hat-trick of Hammersley points (two frees) had them level, and when Ray McLoughney and Hammersley from another free put them two up with less than nine minutes remaining, the pendulum looked to have finally swung the home sideâs way.
But UCD did as they had done from the very start â battle â and fittingly it was their two outstanding players, Noel McGrath and Keith Hogan, who saved them from what would have been an undeserving defeat.
McGrathâs 65 conversion narrowed the deficit to the minimum and while Corkâs Fintan OâLeary instantly responded with one for WIT, further points from McGrath and Hogan left it all square at the end.
Scorers for WIT: T. Hammersley (0-10, 0-8 frees); J. Mulhall (0-2); M. Sheedy, R. McLoughney, F. OâLeary (0-1) each.
Scorers for UCD: N. McGrath (0-5, 0-3 frees, 0-2 "65s); L. Rushe (1-0); K. Hogan (0-3); D. OâConnor (0-2); C. Mac Giolla Bhride, N. Prendergast (0-1) each.
WATERFORD IT: L. Tierney (Kilkenny); B. Kenny (Galway). S. Fives (Waterford). N. Connors (do); W. Hutchinson (do). D. Langton (Kilkenny). E. Barrett (Clare); K. Grehan (Kilkenny). L. Harney (do); F. OâLeary (Cork). J. Mulhall (Kilkenny). C. Parlon (Offaly); R. McLoughney (Tipperary). M. Sheedy (do). T. Hammersley (do).
Subs: B. OâMeara(Tipperary) for Grehan(40); P. J. Rowe(Kilkenny) for Parlon(48).
UCD: J. Ryan (Galway); J. Doyle (Wexford). S. Cummins (Kilkenny). O. Gough (Dublin); N. Prendergast (Kilkenny). E. OâShea (do). S. Norton (do); N. McGrath (Tipperary). D. Fox (Galway); C. Mac Giolla Bhride (Dublin). L. Rushe (do). C. Allis (Limerick); D. OâConnor (Dublin). K. Hogan (Kilkenny). W. Walsh (do).
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/h....l#ixzz1CJ9E1hDz