UL welcome UCD to Castletroy in Fitzgibbon Cup quarter-final

Barry Hennessy’s SETU Waterford are the first team into the semi-finals after beating DCU on Wednesday evening.

The University of Limerick will have home advantage in their Fitzgibbon Cup quarter-final this Thursday night when they welcome UCD to Maguires.

The reigning champions will be looking for an eighth successive win in the competition with their last defeat coming in 2020. This year they have seen off ATU Galway and TUS Midwest with relative ease in their bid to retain the title they won last February.

Brian Ryan’s men topped group D of the competition with a +27 points difference with UCD huge outsiders to come through their clash on Thursday.

The students from Dublin defeated Maynooth in their opener before falling to defeat against UCC, with qualification assured prior to throw-in.

UL can call upon Limerick’s All-Ireland winners Colin Coughlan, Cathal O’Neill, Mark Quinlan, Adam English, Rory Duff and Brian O’Grady although the Kilteely Dromkeen man is yet to feature this year, suffering a knee injury after playing a starring role in the 2022 campaign.

Coughlan and O’Neill were on the scoresheet in the win over TUS while Duff was also named from the start. The others are yet to make an appearance in this year’s championship.

Elsewhere, they have last year’s captain Bryan O’Mara, Gearoid O’Connor, Mark Rodgers, Mikey Kiely and others from the victorious team in 2022 with each starting for their county over the weekend in the first round of the League.

There is Limerick interest in the other fixtures with Jerome Boylan starting both of UCC’s group games. Ronan Fox was introduced in the win over UCD while Eddie Stokes and Padraig Harnett were also a part of the panel.

They meet ATU Galway, who UL defeated in the opening round.

On Wednesday evening, Barry Hennessy’s SETU Waterford were 3-16 to 2-16 winners over DCU in the first of the quarter-finals. Waterford’s Reuben Halloran had eight frees with Padraig Fitzgerald, Alan Kirwan and Gavin Fives hitting the net.

Fitzgibbon Cup Quarter-Finals Fixtures

Thursday February 9

University of Galway v SETU Carlow at 6pm

UCC v ATU Galway at 7pm

University of Limerick v UCD at 7.45pm

Fitzgibbon Cup Quarter-Final Result

DCU Dochas Eireann 2-16 : 3-16 SETU Waterford