Three Limerick colleges are in contention as the 2023 Fitzgibbon Cup kicks off

UL enter as the reigning champions and the odds on favourites to retain their title as they begin their defence on Thursday.

The 2023 Fitzgibbon Cup kicks off this Wednesday with three Limerick colleges in contention for the prestigious title. UL will enter as defending champions and favourites to retain their crown. They are grouped with fellow Limerick side TUS MidWest while Mary Immaculate College are in Group B.

Fitzgibbon Cup draw

• Group A – NUI Galway, MTU Cork, SETU Waterford.
• Group B – Mary I, SETU Carlow, DCU.
• Group C – Maynooth Uni, UCC, UCD.
• Group D – UL, ATU Galway, TUS MidWest.

Mary I are the first Limerick side in action as they travel to Carlow on Wednesday evening with throw in at 7.45pm. Last year the teacher training college were drawn in a difficult group containing UCC and eventual finalists NUIG. This year they will have DCU for company again as well as SETU Carlow. In the panel they released prior to the turn of the year, Jason Gillane was the only Limerick representative on the squad. Mary I do have the likes of Aaron Shanagher, Diarmaid Ryan (both Clare), Cathrach Daly (Waterford) and Colin O’Brien (Cork) in their ranks but will face a tall task in getting out of their group.

They do have form coming into the competition after reaching the League final but they were comfortably beaten by UL on that occasion.

They host DCU next week and will be hopeful that a win at home will be enough to get into the knockout stages regardless of the result tonight.

The University of Limerick and TUS MidWest are paired in the same group for the second successive year. They are joined by ATU Galway (formerly GMIT) in the group stages with the Connacht college reaching the semi-finals last year. GMIT eliminated TUS at the quarter-final stages in 2022. Both Limerick colleges made it out of the groups last year with victories over TU Dublin while UL won the all-Limerick affair.

TUS have the highest representation of Limerick players with six amongst their squad. Cathal Downes remains from last year’s team but his inclusion will be a doubt due to his commitments with the Limerick Senior footballers. His clubmate Shaun Barry is named as is Sean Long who featured for Na Piarsaigh in their run to the county title last November.

They also have Clare’s Aaron Shanagher, Robin Mounsey and Paddy Donnellan in their ranks as well as Tipperary senior Alan Tynan.

However, UL look the team to beat once more with the majority of their star studded side of 2022 still in tow. They were made to work for their title last year leaving it late in both the semi and final, with Mikey Kiely bagging goals in each to swing the tide for the Castletroy men. He remains in the squad as does captain Bryan O’Mara who featured with Tipp in the League as did Gearoid O’Connor. Mark Rodgers and Sean Twomey are also still available to UL as are Ballyahle Shamrocks duo Dean Mason and Darragh Corcoran who will play an All-Ireland final this weekend.

Their Limerick contingent is a healthy one also as they can call on Rory Duff and Mark Quinlan who both lined out for John Kiely’s men over the weekend. They also have second years Colin Coughlan, Cathal O’Neill and Adam English available with the trio outstanding for the Freshers as they won all before them in 2022.

UL begin the defence of their title against ATU Galway on Thursday evening before hosting TUS the following week. And the reigning champions are favourites to claim an 8th title that would put them within one of Waterford IT (SETU Waterford) in the roll of honour. UCC top the chart with 40 titles to their name and they are second-favourites for this year’s edition. UCD have won 32 titles but none since 2001 while ten time winners NUIG have to go back to 2010 for their most recent success.

Mary I won a first title in 2016 with Richie English as captain and they repeated the trick 12 months later. LIT (TUS MidWest), under Davy Fitzgerald won both of their titles in the mid 00’s.

2023 Fitzgibbon Cup Odds

• UL 8/11
• UCC 5/1
• SETU Carlow 15/2
• Mary I 10/1
• NUIG 10/1
• SETU Waterford 20/1
• MTU Cork 25/1
• DCU 25/1
• TUS MidWest 33/1
• ATU Galway 33/1
• UCD 33/1
• Maynooth University 66/1

All twelve teams will have their own aspirations and with eight going through to the quarter-finals there is a chance for a surprise. But UL certainly look the most likely to be the last ones left standing.

Round One Fitzgibbon Cup fixtures

• MTU Cork vs University of Galway, 7pm Wednesday (Group A)
• SETU Carlow vs Mary Immaculate College, 7:45pm Wednesday (Group B)
• UCC vs Maynooth University, 7pm Thursday (Group C)
• ATU Galway vs UL, 7pm Thursday (Group D)