Result
Mary Immaculate College 3-24 IT Carlow 1-19
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Afternoon all and welcome along to our live coverage of the 2017 Fitzgibbon Cup final. IT Carlow face Mary Immaculate College at 1pm in Pearse Stadium.
Elsewhere it’s been a dramatic morning in the GAA with some big changes voted through at 2017 Congress in Croke Park.
Kevin O’Brien is keeping an eye on all the events there for The42.
Here are the starting teams.
IT Carlow
1. Enda Rowland (Abbeyleix, Laois)
2. Dwayne Palmer (Camross, Laois)
3. Kevin Hannafin (St Brendan’s, Kerry)
4. Ross Browne (Colligan, Waterford)
5. Robert Moran (Castlecomer, Kilkenny)
6. Damian Healy (Longwood, Meath)
7. Dale O’Hanlon (Carrick Swans, Tipperary)
8. James Doyle (St Mullin’s, Carlow)
9. Colin Dunford (Colligan, Waterford)
10. Charles Dwyer (Ballinakill, Laois)
14. Stephen Maher (Clough-Ballacolla, Laois)
12. Martin Kavanagh (St Mullin’s, Carlow)
13. Jack Fagan (De La Salle, Waterford)
11. Mark Russell (Lattin-Cullen, Tipperary)
15. Chris Bolger (Clara, Kilkenny)
Mary Immaculate
1. Ciaran Barrett (Clonmel Óg, Tipperary)
2. David Sweeney (Kiladangan, Tipperary)
3. Richie English (Doon, Limerick)
4. Eoin Quirke (captain) (Whitegate, Clare)
5. Conor Twomey (Newtownshandrum, Cork)
6. Ronan Maher (Thurles Sarsfields, Tipperary)
7. Alan Flynn (Kiladangan, Tipperary)
8. Colm Galvin (Clonlara, Clare)
9. Stephen Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields, Tipperary)
10. Darragh O’Donovan (Doon, Limerick)
11. Michael O’Neill (Kilmaley, Clare)
12. Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell, Limerick)
17. Tadhg Gallagher (Kiladangan, Tipperary)
14. Cian Lynch (Patrickswell, Limerick)
22. Luke Meade (Newcestown, Cork)
Mary Immaculate 0-2 IT Carlow 0-0
2 mins – Lightning start by the champions with Michael O’Neill pointing from play and Aaron Gillane on target from a free.
Mary Immaculate 0-3 IT Carlow 0-0
4 mins – Marvellous point from distance by wing-back Conor Twomey for Mary Immaculate.
Mary Immaculate 0-3 IT Carlow 0-1
5 mins – IT Carlow up and running as Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher slots over a free.
Mary Immaculate 0-5 IT Carlow 0-1
7 mins – They’re flying now as the Limerick pair of Darragh O’Donovan and Cian Lynch are both on target.
Mary Immaculate 0-6 IT Carlow 0-2
8 mins – Point for Chris Bolger but half chance of a goal there after Martin Kavanagh’s strong incisive run set up the IT Carlow corner-forward. Cian Lynch replies at the other end for Mary I.
Mary Immaculate 0-7 IT Carlow 0-3
10 mins – Ronan Maher splits the posts with a point from distance from a long-range free but then Colin Dunford replies with an excellent score.
Mary Immaculate 0-8 IT Carlow 0-3
12 mins – Darragh O’Donovan splits the posts from a sideline cut.
Mary Immaculate 0-9 IT Carlow 0-3
16 mins – Conor Twomey with his second point of the day from wing-back for Mary Immaculate and then they nearly hit the net but Tadhg Gallagher’s shot is smartly blocked by Enda Rowland before Luke Meade’s shot from the rebound goes wide.
Mary Immaculate 0-10 IT Carlow 0-4
19 mins – Maher with a free at one end for IT Carlow before Luke Meade restores Mary I’s six-point advantage.
Mary Immaculate 0-11 IT Carlow 0-4
20 mins – Colm Galvin flights over a superb point for Mary I.
Mary Immaculate 0-12 IT Carlow 0-5
23 mins – Ronan Maher bangs over a long-range free for Mary I before Maher responds for IT Carlow.
Mary Immaculate 0-12 IT Carlow 0-7
24 mins – Maher on target again from a free and then Charles Dwyer points. The gap is back to five now.
Mary Immaculate 0-13 IT Carlow 0-7
27 mins – Ronan Maher’s long rang striking from placed balls has been superb today. He’s just hit his third point.
Mary Immaculate 0-15 IT Carlow 0-7
28 mins – Maher and O’Neill stretch Mary I’s lead to eight points.
Mary Immaculate 0-16 IT Carlow 0-8
31 mins – Maher for IT Carlow and Cian Lynch for Mary I trade points.
Half-Time: Mary Immaculate College 0-16 IT Carlow 0-8
Mary Immaculate 0-16 IT Carlow 0-9
31 mins – Maher hits over the first point of the second half for IT Carlow.
Mary Immaculate 0-16 IT Carlow 0-10
34 mins – Maher again and the gap is down to six but then Jack Fagan misses a glorious chance to score.
Mary Immaculate 0-17 IT Carlow 0-10
35 mins – Superb run by substitute Thomas Monaghan, he offloads to O’Neill and the Kilmaley man points for Mary Immaculate.
Goal for Mary Immaculate College!
Mary Immaculate College 1-17 IT Carlow 0-10
37 mins – A fine one-handed strike to the net by Darragh O’Donovan and Mary I go ten points clear.
Mary Immaculate 1-18 IT Carlow 0-11
38 mins – Points swapped by Conor Twomey and Martin Kavanagh.
Mary Immaculate 1-18 IT Carlow 0-12
40 mins – Maher converts a free for IT Carlow.
Mary Immaculate 1-19 IT Carlow 0-12
42 mins – Gillane knocks over a free and the gap is out to ten points.
Mary Immaculate 1-19 IT Carlow 0-14
42 mins – IT Carlow still battling on as Colin Dunford clips over an excellent point from play and Maher hits over a free. They needs goal though and the exertions of yesterday’s extra-time win could start to tell.
Mary Immaculate 1-20 IT Carlow 0-14
48 mins – Gillane points and then wins a penalty!
Goal for Mary Immaculate College!
Mary Immaculate 2-20 IT Carlow 0-15
50 mins – And that should be that. Gillane unleashes a fierce drive to the net and Mary Immaculate are surely set now to retain their Fitzgibbon Cup title. Maher does grab a point back at the other end.
Goal for IT Carlow!
Mary Immaculate 2-22 IT Carlow 1-16
55 mins – Some joy for IT Carlow as they find the net courtesy of Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher.
Mary Immaculate 2-22 IT Carlow 1-18
56 mins – Deficit cut to seven as Maher hits over a brace of frees.
Third goal for Mary Immaculate College!
Mary Immaculate 3-23 IT Carlow 1-18
60 mins – That seals it. A third goal for the title holders, substitute Pa Ryan flicking a shot to the net after Aaron Gillane’s initial shot was superbly blocked by goalkeeper Enda Rowland.
Mary Immaculate 3-24 IT Carlow 1-19
63 mins – Outstanding save by goalkeeper Ciaran Barrett from Charles Dwyer, he points the rebound.
Full-Time: Mary Immaculate College 3-24 IT Carlow 1-19
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Ulster have some amount of ballers in their backline stocks. Its crazy a fella as good as Addison is barely missed
Brilliant performance against a strong Cardiff selection. Hopefully the right time to come to the boil. We were trying to play like this at the start of the season and winning but looking sloppy. Then we took a few defeats. But now we are clicking and looking the real deal. Hopefully we’ll be full strength against Toulouse and play like tonight.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: to be fair I thought Cardiff were the better team in the first half but sloppy handling let them down. Ulster got 2 pretty lucky tries and one good one late in the half. Second half was a different story, Ulster looked very solid and controlled the pace.
@Michael Bryson: You have a pretty unique view of the first half. None of the Cardiff fans I know felt so. Ulster’s rush defence destroyed Cardiff’s attack, our forwards broke them down and took the game away from them. It’s a great result, a weaker Blues side beat Leinster.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: not really that unique, from my viewpoint in the stand the consensus was that Cardiff built pressure much better than us in the first half and went through the phases better than we did. Yes our defence was good but they lacked cutting edge which was fortunate and give better teams that much ball they will be out of sight by half time. Just watched the game back and stand by my 1st half assessment.
@Michael Bryson: To be clear I am not belittling the result, great result from a game where I was worried by Cardiffs team sheet before hand. Just a little worried about some of our side to side and kick away tactics in first half. Much better in second half though.
@Michael Bryson: Michael, Ulster play a brand of rugby that involves taking risks in defence and attack. Predictable, risk free rugby won’t cut it if we want to be winning trophies. Ulster put a good Cardiff side under immense pressure and beat them well. These are the nights we should enjoy.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: I never said I didn’t enjoy it and at no point do I say that I disagree with the way we are playing. I am just a little worried about the bigger picture against the bigger teams with regards to control of the game. However as someone who has been a season ticket holder for over 20 years I am just conditioned to be reluctant to get too excited with our chances…#toomayfalsedawns but the sun will rise eventually!
@Michael Bryson: I get what you are saying. But I didnt think Cardiff were the better team in the first half, but they were certainly in it, most stats would have been 50:50, except the scoreline. But it was a very strong Cardiff team, with 13 internationals, it was never going to be all one way or close to it, I still think Ulster were the better side in the first half, but Cardiff had their moments.
Our weakness at the start of the season was dominating games but not being able to turnbthat into points, we dominated Leinster but couldn’t build the scoreboard, and were a score away from defeat, against Ospreys we did lose, Clermont came close. Nearly every game up to Christmas we dominated territory and possession but couldn’t turn that into points, we also tired in the last 15mins, as such we were vulnerable to throwing a game we dominated away. Amost happened against Leinster and Clermot, it did happen against Ospreys. Since christmas I am glad to see we have been much more clinical, and can turn that pressure into points. Its shaping up to be a good season.
That was a very strong Cardiff side with 13 internationals and some very good players, yet Ulster made it look easy. The ones in Ireland camp really showed they should have had more Ireland caps by now, Balacoune, Hume, Timoney all had great games and on the scoresheet also Henderson was very good. Conway has been playing well and has a good all round skill set, but Balacoune has been in better and there isn’t a weakness in his game either, apart from experience, I’m not sure why Balacoune isnt in the right wing. Ulster normally weaken in the last 15, but with the bench last night actually finished stronger. Really dont think Leinster will be looking forward to next weekend, which will be strange for them.
At least get the score right, it was 48 – 12