Comhghairdeas buachaillí. Táimíd an-bhródúil as daoibh.
The staff and students of IT Carlow are incredibly proud of the Fitzgibbon Cup team to reach its second-ever final with a series of thrilling displays of hurling this season and thank the team and coaches for their hard work and dedication.
It was a tough night at the DCU sports grounds last week for the IT Carlow hurlers who suffered a single point defeat in the Fitzgibbon Cup final.
DJ Carey’s men led for much of the game and were only brought back to level terms in the 57th minute as UCC staged a late rally to win by 18 points to 2-11 in the finish. The powerful final quarter surge secured the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup title for UCC.
With five goals scored in each of their last two games, quarter and semi-final wins over NUI Galway and Mary I, it was always likely IT Carlow would hit the net and two inside the opening eight minutes was particularly impressive.
IT Carlow got the perfect start when Seamus Casey kicked to the net after a powerful run down the left in the second minute. Chris Nolan added a point before Kilkenny's Liam Blanchfield scored their second. He latched onto a delivery by Fergal Hayes, cut across the goals on a right to left run and then blasted home off his left side.
Tom Kingston's outfit trailed by six points early in the second half at the DCU sports grounds and remained five behind with 13 minutes to go. Yet despite losing Niall O'Leary to a straight red card in the 50th minute, they proved too strong for DJ Carey's IT Carlow, hitting seven points without reply to win the game.
Despite this, IT Carlow has proven to be worthy claimants for the Fitzgibbon Cup title and we look forward to next year and opportunities new.