Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Quarter Final – UCC 3-28 Mary I 2-14

UCC defeated Mary I by 3-28 to 2-14 in the Waterford Crystal Cup Hurling Quarter-Final on Sunday January 19^th at the Mardyke.

UCC’s tough schedule enthuses Enright

UCC 3-28 Mary Immaculate Col 2-14

By Denis Hurley for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Waterford Crystal Cup quarter-final:Yesterday’s Waterford Crystal Cup win over Mary Immaculate College at the Mardyke means UCC have an unenviable schedule next weekend, but manager Eddie Enright believes it could be good preparation for their Fitzgibbon Cup campaign. Both of last year’s All-Ireland finalists await UCC, with Saturday’s Canon O’Brien Cup clash with Cork followed by a trip to face Clare on Sunday in the semi-final of the Waterford Crystal. If the college are to win a third successive Fitzgibbon in Belfast, they would be playing on consecutive days at the end of February and start of March and former Tipperary star Enright is looking forward to the challenge. “We have Cork on the Saturday in the Canon O’Brien Cup and then Clare on Sunday, it’s kind of bonus territory,” he said. “It’ll be tough, but that’s kind of like the way the Fitzgibbon is going to be, it’s going to test the panel. Everybody should get a game, I think it’ll work out well for us.”

In last year’s Fitzgibbon final, UCC had only five points to spare on Mary I, but they had things almost all their own way here, never looking back once Jack Ahern’s goal gave them a 1-5 to 0-3 lead in the 10th minute. Further goals from his colleagues in the full-forward line, Conor Lehane and Willie Griffin, ensured a 3-18 to 0-7 half-time lead and the outcome was never in doubt thereafter. All told, the inside trio scored 3-16 between them, with Lehane grabbing 1-6 from full-forward despite being brought off with almost half an hour left. Brian Murray and Daniel Roche processed a lot of ball at midfield and while James Barry scored three points from wing-back, he was just as good at carrying out his primary defensive duties. Barry Lawton and Dan McCormack also had their moments,

Mary I were unable to deal with the widespread quality in a UCC side that was without injured inter-county stars Séamus Harnedy (Cork) and Darragh Fives (Waterford). Though Clare star Colm Galvin and Jamie Wall stood out for the visitors, they couldn’t match UCC’s gear change after Ahern’s goal. Lehane doubled home a Rob O’Shea pass on 18 minutes to make it 2-10 to 0-4 and then Griffin struck just before the half hour, with the 20-point interval deficit rendering the second half not far off redundant. With both teams having availed of the maximum five substitutions early in the second-half, the game became more ragged, though UCC sub Alan Cadogan advanced his claims with a couple of nice points and Griffin and Ahern continued to cause problems for the visitors’ defence. Wall kept battling at full-forward for Mary I and eventually gleaned some reward with a 58th-minute goal and Niall O’Meara added another one not long after. UCC had done more than enough before then, however.

Scorers for UCC: C Lehane (0-2f), W Griffin (0-4f) 1-6 each, J Ahern 1-4, J Barry 0-3 (0-1f), B Murray, B Lawton, D McCormack, A Cadogan 0-2 each, D Roche 0-1.

Scorers for Mary Immaculate College: J Wall 1-3, C Galvin 0-3 (0-1f), N O’Meara 1-0, D Reidy, Eoin Hogan (0-1f), J Moloney 0-2 each, P Hayes, PJ Keane 0-1 each.

UCC (Cork unless stated): D McCarthy; S Maher (Tipperary), D Glynn (Kilkenny), P O’Sullivan; J Barry (Tipperary), C Murphy, K Bourke; B Murray, D Roche; B Lawton, D McCormack (Tipperary), R O’Shea; W Griffin (Limerick), C Lehane, J Ahern (Limerick).

Subs: M Collins for Murray, S Roche (Waterford) for D Roche, C Spillane for Maher (all half-time), A Cadogan for Lehane, D Lester for Barry (both 43).

MARY IMMACULATE COLLEGE: N Kelly (Westmeath); C Barry (Cork), A Ryan (Tipperary), Éanna Hogan (Tipperary); M Collier (Laois), J Meagher (Tipperary), S Kennedy (Tipperary); L Considine (Limerick), C Galvin (Clare); PJ Keane (Kerry), D Reidy (Limerick), D Ferncombe (Tipperary); Eoin Hogan (Tipperary), J Wall (Cork), N O’Meara (Tipperary).

Subs: J Hannon (Limerick) for Considine, L Corry (Clare) for Barry (both half-time), J Moloney (Tipperary) for Keane (41), M O’Shea (Clare) for Galvin, P Hayes (Tipperary) for Eoin Hogan (both 54).

Referee: J O’Brien (Tipperary)

For the Record

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling 2014

Preliminary Round

Friday January 10^th

@ Mick Neville Park Rathkeale     Limerick 10-17 IT Tralee 0-9

Sunday January 12^th

@ WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore University of Limerick 1-11 Waterford 0-10

@ MacDonagh Park Nenagh        Tipperary 3-20 LIT 0-5

Quarter-Finals (Extra Time)

Sunday January 19^th

@ Austin Stack Park Tralee           Kerry v Tipperary                                                      @ 1:00pm

@ WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore WIT v UL                                                                  @ 2:00pm

@ Sixmilebridge                               Clare v Limerick                                                       @ 2:00pm

@ Mardyke                                        UCC v Mary I                                                @ 2:00pm

Semi-Finals (Extra Time)

Sunday January 26^th

Kerry or Tipperary v WIT or UL

Clare or Limerick v UCC or Mary I

Final (Extra Time)

Sunday February 2^nd

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling – Odds and Ends

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006 is Won 22, Lost 47, a 32% success rate.

Limerick have not defeated an inter-county team in the Waterford Crystal Cup since the 2006 semi-final when they defeated Clare by 1-14 to 0-13 at the Gaelic Grounds Limerick.

Clare are the only team who have won at least one game each year since the Waterford Crystal Cup competition began in 2006. Clare also have the best won / lost record in the competition, winning 18 and drawing 1 of their 25 matches played while winning 2 titles.

35 goals were scored in the 2013 Waterford Crystal Cup competition over 11 matches (an average of 3.2 goals per match). This is the exact same number of goals scored in the 2012 competition while only 23 goals were scored in the 2011 competition over 10 matches (an average of 2.3 goals per match).

Since the Waterford Crystal Cup began in 2006, Clare (18 wins), Tipperary (16 wins) and Waterford (13 wins) have accounted for 47 of the 84 victories in the competition (56%).

Tipperary hold the record for the longest winning streak in the Waterford Crystal Cup since the competition began under that guise in 2006 when they won 10 consecutive matches between 2007 and 2009.

None of the five teams who take part in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship have a losing record in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006.

Since the Waterford Crystal Cup began in 2006, 69 games have been played with just 1 draw – the 2012 Limerick v Clare Quarter-Final after two periods of extra time.

Waterford have lost their last 3 matches in the Waterford Crystal Cup having won 8 in a row from 2010 to 2012.

IT Tralee is the only team not to win a game in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006, losing their first match in the last 7 seasons.

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Roll Of Honour

Tipperary (3) – 2007, 2008, 2012

Waterford (2) – 2010, 2011

Clare (2) – 2009, 2013

Limerick (1) – 2006