UL recorded their second win of the league campaign when they accounted for their arch rivals in this closely
fought game. Played at the LIT grounds the strong wind blowing directly up the pitch was a major factor in this
game. UL started brightly and were three points to one up after eight minutes thanks to two long range frees
from Brendan Bugler and one from centre forward Ainle O' Cairelain
. UL began to gain control of this game as the LIT
backline were finding it difficult to clear UL’s half backline with their clearances. With this dominance came
points from Seán Ryan (2), Ainle, Alan Kennedy and four Alan Egan frees leaving the score at eleven points to
three. However LIT stole in for a soft goal against the run of play and a point apiece for the teams left the
half time score at 0-12 to 1-04.
Playing against the wind UL’s five point lead would not be sufficient and this was further reduced as LIT
pointed two early frees leaving just three between the sides. UL’s backline was under considerable pressure
and they coped admirably. Brendan Bugler and Pa Donnellan were immense in the halfback line while Seán Ryan
swept up a lot a ball and won frees running at the LIT defence. Alan Egan added four more frees in the second
half to keep UL’s noses in front, however LIT were not giving up reduced the deficit to the minimum thanks
to four long range frees, two apiece from Fergus Flynn and goalkeeper James Skehill. A point apiece from the
hard working Ryan O Dywer and Seán Ryan of UL left the final score at 0-17 to 1-13.
UL lost Kieran Joyce to injury midway through the first half and he was replaced by Tom King. As mentioned earlier
Brendan Bugler and Pa Donnellan played very well in the half backline while Pat Holland was also impressive.
Seán Ryan and Seamus Hickey hurled well and got through a lot of work in midfield. Up front Ryan O' Dwyer was
very impressive while Alan Egan and Ainle O' Cairelain also worked hard.
Team:
Tadgh Flynn, Kieran Joyce, Aidan Murphy, Pat Holland, Pa Donnellan, Tom Stapleton, Brendan Bugler, Seamus Hickey, Seán Ryan, Ryan O'Dwyer, Ainle O' Cairelain
, John Greene, Ger Scales,Alan Kennedy, Alan Egan.
Substitutes:
Tom King for Joyce, Andy O Connell for Scales, Eoin Ryan for Kennedy.
Scorers:
Alan Egan(0-8) all frees, Seán Ryan(0-3), Brendan Bugler(0-2) all frees, Ainle O' Cairelain(0-2), Ryan O Dwyer & Alan Kennedy(0-1)
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