Adam English and Cathal O’Neill were in flying form for the Limerick side
DCU 0-15 UL 0-25
It may be close to Christmas but UL’s merry season in the league gives them a chance at some early festivities, courtesy of a 10 point win over DCU in the League Division One final at the Maguire’s Pitches.
Jack Leahy, Cathal O’Neill, Adam English and Gearoid O’Connor all had their shooting boots on, while Aidan O’Connor impressed at full forward as they secured a 0-25 to 0-15 win.
Cillian Dunne was DCU’s most dangerous forward in the second half as he hit 0-3 from the bench.
The game did have a late finish due to a late Cathal O’Neill injury five minutes from the end.
The opening 10 minutes saw UL dominating from a scoring perspective and their usage of the ball, as they led 0-5 to 0-1, with Gearoid O’Connor, Adam English, Jack Leahy and Aidan O’Connor all landing scores.
DCU were slow to settle and were struggling to convert chances in the opening quarter, whilst also losing possession in key areas allowing their opponents to break and build out from the back and essentially allowing them to play their game in their own terms.
Colm O’Meara and Jack Leahy tagged on two scores to leave two goals between the sides after 14 minutes of play. A Joe Flanagan free was DCU’s first score since the second minute, before Limerick senior hurler Cathal O’Neill sent over a fine individual effort and left their Leinster opponents with plenty of work to do.
Cian Boran’s score in the 19th minute was his side’s first from play in 17 minutes and showed just how dominant the Munster side were in defense. UL in attack showed their class as O’Neill alongside Aidan and Gearoid O’Connor extended their advantage.
Jack Leahy was impressing from corner-forward as the Cork man finished the opening 30 minutes with 0-3 all from play and causing all sorts of issues for the full back line.
DCU would have been disappointed with their accuracy early on as eight wides from 13 attempts was keeping them from being competitive, albeit UL did also manage to squander a few opportunities themselves with nine chances going abegging.
DCU came out firing a bit more for the second period as they tried to create a few early goal chances but had to settle for a 65 as the opening score the half from Joe Flanagan, before Gearoid O’Connor sent over UL’S first score of the half moments later.
Cian Boran and Cathal O’Neill exchanged scores before Adam English finished off a well worked maneuver to leave UL eight in front with 20 minutes to go.
Jack Leahy continued his fine evening with his fourth, but DCU kept fighting thanks to substitute James Carroll.
Diarmuid Hanniffy and Cathal O’Neill made it a double score game and almost assured a certain win for UL coming into the final stretch.
Billy Reid’s long-range effort reduced the deficit to eight, but UL kept the scoreboard ticking as Gearoid O’Connor landed back-to-back points alongside a terrific score from Adam English and Maidhc Fitzpatrick to leave the result beyond doubt and UL securing the first of what they’ll hope multiple titles for the season.
Scorers: DCU: Joe Flanagan (0-3 f, 1 65) 0-5, Cillian Dunne and Cathal Beirne 0-3 each, Cian Boran 0-2, James Carroll and Billy Reid 0-1 each.
UL: Gearoid O’Connor (0-4 f) 0-7, Jack Leahy, Adam English and Cathal O’Neill 0-4 each, Aidan O’Connor 0-2, Colm O’Meara, Diarmuid Hanniffy, Maidhc Fitzpatrick and Sean Rynne 0-1 each.
Teams: DCU: Cian Byrne (Wexford); Padraig Lennon (Kilkenny), Darragh Keogh (Wexford), Ivan Bolger (Kilkenny); Paddy Langton (Kilkenny), Paraic Moylan (Kilkenny), Billy Reid (Kilkenny); Sean Gallagher (Dublin), Dan O’Meara (Kildare); Cathal Beirne (Kilkenny), Joe Flanagan (Dublin), Conor Kehoe (Carlow); Sam Byrne (Kilkenny), Cian Boran (Kildare), Darragh Carley (Wexford).
Subs: James Carroll (Kilkenny) for Flanagan (40), Bill Hughes for Byrne (51), Cillian Dunne (Laois) for O’Meara (51).
UL: Cian Broderick (Clare); Evan O’Leary (Limerick), John Conneally (Clare), Aaron Morgan (Tipperary); Michael Corcoran (Tipperary), Colin Coughlan (Limerick) (C), Colm O’Meara (Clare); Bran O’Sullivan (Cork), Adam English (Limerick); Gearoid O’Connor (Tipperary), Cathal O’Neill (Limerick), Sean O’Hanlon (Galway); Jack Leahy (Cork), Aidan O’Connor (Limerick), Paddy O’Donovan (Limerick).
Subs: Maidhc Fitzpatrick (Tipperary) for Corcoran (HT), Diarmuid Hanniffy (Galway) for O’Hanlon (35), Killian Doyle (Kilkenny) for Corcoran (44), Ian Byrne (Kilkenny) for O’Donovan (50), Sean Rynne (Clare) for O’Neill (53).
Referee: Ciaran O’Regan (Cork)