ATU Galway 0-14

University of Limerick 3-25

FITZGIBBON CUP HOLDERS UL were more dominant than their 20-point winning margin might suggest as they made light work of an ATU Galway side that travelled without Galway star Kevin Cooney, and a handful of other key players. 

With Wednesday evening’s meeting of Maynooth University and Mary Immaculate postponed, this was left as the only game on the opening night of the competition.

Once the contest was switched from Duggan Park in Ballinasloe to the Airdome, thus giving top of the ground conditions to a star-studded UL attack, it always looked as if ATU Galway were on a hiding to nothing here. 

Early points from Cian Folan and John Cooney suggested that the might yet turn this into a competitive game, but even in those opening five minutes, UL still generated three shots, though they failed to hit the target. 

Once Mark Fitzgerald got them up and running with an excellent score as he strode purposefully out of defence, the competition favourites didn’t look back. 

Defensively, they were in complete control. Just two of ATU Galway’s nine first-half points came from open play, with TJ Brennan and Fitzgerald imperious along the spine of the defence, while Colin Coughlan and Killian Sampson controlled the two flanks with Coughlan chipping in with some excellent scores. 

Brian O’Grady and Patrick O’Donovan were also very sharp in the middle third and they picked off some impressive points while also playing some excellent ball into the inside forward line, allowing Adam English and Mark Rogers to fill their boots, racking up 1-6 in the first half and 2-6 in total, before both men were withdrawn with the job done. 

They each picked off points from out on the sideline and Rogers found the net as UL racked up a 1-19 to 0-9 interval lead, before noticeably moving down a gear after half-time. 

English added their second goal but it was clear that they felt their work was done, and were it not for injuries to John Cooney and Keelan Creavan, two of the better performers on the ATU Galway side, the underdogs might have eaten into the lead. 

As it was, Conor Molloy picked off some fine scores, but UL kept ticking over with Ian Byrne adding a third goal five minutes from time. 

Scorers for UL: A English 1-4, G O’Connor 0-6 (0-5f), M Rogers 1-2, I Byrne 1-0, M Fitzgerald 0-3, C Coughlan 0-3, B O’Grady 0-3, P O’Donovan 0-2, F O’Connor 0-1, C Hanley 0-1f. 

Scorers for ATU Galway: C Molloy 0-7 (0-4f), J Cooney 0-4 (0-3f), C Folan 0-1, R Meehan 0-1, 

UL (Limerick unless stated): Conor Hanley; Michael Corcoran (Tipperary), TJ Brennan (Galway), Fergal O’Connor; Killian Sampson (Offaly), Mark Fitzgerald (Waterford), Colin Coughlan; Brian O’Grady, Brian O’Sullivan (Cork); Patrick O’Donovan, Gearóid O’Connor (Tipperary), Colm O’Meara (Clare); Adam English, Mark Rogers (Clare), James Power (Waterford). 

Subs: Ian Byrne (Kilkenny) for O’Donovan (h-t), Aidan O’Connor for Power (h-t), Conal Moran (Tipperary) for Rogers (41), Seán O’Hanlon (Galway) for English (47), John Conneally (Clare) for Brennan (50). 

ATU GALWAY (Galway unless stated): Mike Egan; Oisín Kenny, Séan Neary, Donal Parr; Eoin Cooley, John Cooney, Rory Hickey; Robert Meehan, Enda Madden (Clare); Evan Hunt, Ben O’Connor, Conor Molloy; Keelan Creavan, Cian Folan, Darren Shaughnessy. 

Subs: Kelvin Forde (Cork) for Cooley (h-t), James Downey for O’Connor (h-t), Rory Lyons for Creavan (38), Aaron Donohue for Cooney (43), Enda Gardiner for Hickey (52). 

Referee: J Judge (Mayo).