DIT edged out hosts UCD by 0-19 to 0-17 in a thrilling Dublin derby tonight to take the last Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final spot.

Derek Brennan's charges produced a terrific second-half performance to over turn a three-point interval deficit at Belfield. Their reward is a last four clash against another local rival - DCU - next Tuesday.

Level on ten different occasions throughout the course of the 60 minutes, it was a tit-for-tat encounter for the majority of the contest with DJ Foran desperately unlucky to finish on the losing side while Niall O'Brien was exceptional for winners.

Waterford star Foran landing 0-13 with nine of those points coming in the opening half as UCD took a 0-11 to 0-8 lead into the dressing-room.

However, DIT dug deepest after the break with substitute Niall Walsh, O'Brien and the latter's Westmeath team-mate Robbie Greville all landing scores to put them one ahead at the three quarter-hour mark - 0-14 to 0-13.

Foran regained the lead for UCD after he tagged on his final two points but DIT answered back with three successive frees from O'Brien who sent over 0-11 in what was an outstanding display of score-taking.

There was an exciting finale as Tadhg de Burca and Luke Scanlon got on the scoresheet for UCD to reduce the margin to a single point but Conor Ryan sent DIT on their way to the semi-finals with a classy sideline cut in injury-time.

DIT - P McKenna; W Kavanagh, T Doyle, P Cass; E Dunne, D McNicholas, L Kelly; J McGuirk (0-1), R Greville (0-1); N Mitchell (0-2), P Maher, F McGibb (0-1); N O'Brien (0-11, 9f, 1'65), L Blanchfield (0-1), C Ryan (0-1sl). Sub: N Walsh (0-1) for L Blanchfield.

UCD - D Hughes; B Quigley, R Lennon, G Molloy; M Cody, T de Burca (0-1), P Guinan; J Maher (0-1), JJ Ryan; DJ Foran (0-13, 9f), D Codd, J Mullaney; S Flanagan (0-1), T Phelan, P O'Connor. Subs: L Scanlon (0-1) for P O'Connor, R Purcell for R Lennon.

Referee - P O'Dwyer.

Tweet

Most Read Stories