Clare players in quarter-finals

After this week’s third round of games in the race for the Fitzgibbon Cup, the third level colleges hurling championship, the way is clear for the quarter-finals, which will take place next Wednesday.

Should Limerick IT and NUI Galway win their respective quarter-finals next Wednesday, they will clash in the semi-final on Friday, March 5. Should that fixture materialise, there is likely to be a big Clare following heading to Galway for the game.
Approximately half of the starting line-up for both sides hail from the Banner County, with many of the 2009 All-Ireland winning U-21 side involved.
In next week’s quarter-finals, Limerick IT will play UCD, NUI Galway will play St Pat’s, University of Limerick will play UCC and Waterford IT will play DIT. There will be Clare players in action in all four quarter-finals.
Despite not having fully recovered from an ankle injury, John Conlon came into the action for the final quarter of this week’s game and he scored the winning goal as NUIG recorded a 2-12 to 1-12 win over DIT.
The Galway side needed a result in that tie, as defeat would have put them out of the race in a season where they will host the concluding stages of the competition.
Paul Nihill (Clonlara) was an absentee this week due to injury, while Caimin Morey failed a late fitness test. Clare players in the starting line-up included Donal Tuohy (Crusheen), who excelled between the posts bringing off three outstanding saves during the course of the game, Diarmuid Nash (Scariff), Noel Casey (Kilmaley), Patrick Kelly (Clarecastle), Domhnaill O’Donovan (Clonlara) and David Barrett (Newmarket).
The Davy Fitzgerald-managed Limerick IT, already safely through to the play-offs before this week’s games, maintained their unbeaten run with a 2-19 to 1-11 win over GMIT. They were without the injured Conor Cooney (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and James McInerney (Newmarket) but Clare players in their line-up included Cathal Chaplin and James Gunning (both Broadford), Nicky O’Connell (Clonlara), Seán Collins (Cratloe) and Bernard Gaffney (Newmarket). Portumna’s Joe Canning was rested for that one.
Waterford IT had Newmarket’s Enda Barrett in their line-up when they scored a 0-18 to 1-10 win over UCC, who introduced Darach Honan (Clonlara) during the course of the game.
Tulla’s Andrew Quinn was part of the UL team, which scored a 3-18 to 3-7 win over UUJ, while Tulla’s Paul Lynch was at corner-back in the DIT team that beat UCD.