Defending champions UL travel to SETU Waterford in Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final

The Limerick college have been favourites from day one and have done little to change that narrative with dominant victories throughout the championship.

UL continue their bid to retain the Fitzgibbon Cup title on Thursday evening at 7.30pm when they take on SETU Waterford in the semi-finals of the competition. It is the second semi-final tie of the evening with UCC taking on the University of Galway at 6pm in Doora Barefiled.

Both games will be streamed live by Higher Education GAA with Saturday’s final to be broadcast live by TG4. Each of the the remaining three contests are ticket only events.

The defending champions have been the team to beat thus far but none have laid a glove on Brian Ryan’s charges who have breezed into the final four. A 13-point win over ATU Galway kick started their campiagn last month while they had 14-points to spare in their second-round win against neighbours TUS MidWest that booked their quarter-final berth.

Against UCD in the last eight, they put their visitors to the sword with a 4-19 to 0-10 win in Castletroy as they led from pillar to post. Mikey Kiely grabbed a hat trick, continuing in the form of 2022 while Limerick’s Adam English chipped in with 0-5 on his Fitzgibbon Cup debut.

Kiely is one of the survivors from the star studded 2022 team that claimed honours last February. He is joined in that regard by team captain Bryan O’Mara, TJ Brennan, Mike Gough, Killian Sampson, Darragh Corcoran, Gearoid O’Connor and Sean Twomey who all started the ’22 final and last Thursday’s semi. UL can also call on winners from last year in the form of Dean Mason, Conor Flaherty, Cian Galvin, Brian O’Sullivan and Mark Rodgers.

Limerick All-Ireland winners Colin Coughlan, Cathal O’Neill and English have also come into the squad after helping the Freshers side to League and All-Ireland honours last year.

However, Kiely and co will be hoping for a more straightforward semi-final then the one they experienced in 2022 against Carlow IT. With time up, the Waterford native somehow managed to rocket a 40-yard free into the IT Carlow net to secure the extra-time win and deny the hosts.

Two days later, Kiely bagged UL’s only goal in the final in injury time to turn the contest in their favour as they hit 1-5 without reply down the stretch to claim an eighth title and first since 2018.

The Limerick college have been favourites from day one and have done little to change that narrative with dominant victories throughout the championship. Their opponents have come under the radar somewhat having lost to the University of Galway in the first round.

But victories over MTU Cork saw them into the quarters where they upset the odds to overcome DCU Dochas Eireann. Yet, the hardest challenge of all awaits this evening.

They can call on the services of Limerick’s four time All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Barry Hennessy who links up with club manager Fintan O’Connor at the Waterford college.

In the other semi-final, the University of Galway will hope to return to the final after last year’s defeat to UL but they face a tough task in the form of UCC.

Both come into the tie with perfect records thus far. UCG have accounted for SETU Waterford, MTU Cork and SETU Carlow while UCC beat Maynooth University, UCD and ATU Galway.

The final is fixed for Saturday afternoon in SETU Waterford.