UL 1-17
Limerick IT 2-11

Thomas O'Brien's injury time goal completed a comeback from a seemingly impossible position for the University of Limerick in Saturday's Fitzgibbon Cup final.

UL claimed their first Fitzgibbon Cup title in nine years at the Waterford IT grounds despite trailing by nine points eight minutes before the break.

Having been forced to take to the field without one of their star men, Offaly senior captain and free-taker Shane Dooley, UL found themselves on the wrong end of a first half mauling by Limerick IT, with Donie Reale and Sean Tobin both hitting the net to give their side a 2-7 to 0-4 lead.

UL hit back to trail by just six at the break, and they continued to chip away at the deficit after half-time, with Paul Kelly, Andrew Quinn, Damien Burke and Patrick Cronin all in good scoring form.

And the key moment arrived in the first minute of injury time with Thomas O'Brien - only on the field as a substitute three minutes from the end of the hour - cracking a goal past Matthew Ryan to push UL into the lead for the first time.

LIT's misery was complete when Willie Hyland, the Laois forward, was sent off by referee Michael Wadding a minute later.

UL: T Lowry; P Stapleton, M Walsh, S Hickey; B Bugler, PJ Delaney, K Joyce; D Burke (0-4, 1 free), P Cronin (0-4); B Carroll (0-1), B Beckett (0-1), P Kelly (0-3, 2 frees); K Morris, P Murphy, A Quinn (0-4, 3 frees). Subs: M Boran for Murphy (26 mins), T Connors for Boran (half-time), T O'Brien (1-0) for Carroll (57).

Limerick IT: M Ryan; E Glynn, C Cone, C Cooney; JB O'Halloran (0-1), J McInerney (0-3, frees), J O'Keefe; S Lambert, P O'Brien (0-1); S Collins (0-1), W Hyland, P Browne (0-1); B Gaffney (0-3, frees), S Tobin (1-0), D Reale (1-1).

Referee: M Wadding (Waterford). Tweet

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