Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) inflicted a second defeat of the Fitzgibbon Cup campaign on Trinity’s senior hurlers on a score line of 4-15 to 1-8 under stormy conditions in Santry.
Following a promising fightback by a determined Trinity side, a late Waterford blitz saw the home team end the evening disappointed. In a game characterised by handling errors caused by the wet conditions, time on the ball was often at a premium in the early stages as both sides struggled to get to grips with the weather.
Facing off against a strong Waterford team, featuring Hurler and Young Hurler of the year, Austin Gleeson, Trinity started the game off well. Conor O’Carroll got Trinity’s opening score when captain Darragh O’Donoghue found the full forward in space, before corner forward Eoin Kelly tacked on a second point to keep the home side in touching distance of the much fancied visitors.
Waterford soon found their groove, forcing a superb save from Trinity keeper, Eoin Skelly, before bundling the rebound over the line for the game’s first goal. Minutes later the visitors found the net again. Good interplay between the Waterford forwards found space, before the ball was blasted into the corner of Trinity’s goal by Shane Ryan, giving the visitors a 2-5 to 0-2 lead after fifteen minutes.
Despite these early setbacks, Trinity continued to work hard and were rewarded when Dublin star Cian O’Sullivan’s long range free was dropped into the net by Waterford keeper Mark Fanning. O’Sullivan split the posts with two further frees following superb battling by Donagh Williams to keep Trinity in touch with the visitors.
The momentum soon swung back Waterford’s way. However, Trinity’s defence worked tirelessly to limit them to just two points for the remainder of the half. Centre forward, Niall Redmond epitomised this work, frequently venturing back to his own half back line and shouldering his way out of defence in possession. Meanwhile keeper Eoin Skelly pulled off a fine save to keep his side in touch, with the score standing at 2-7 to 1-4 as the half time whistle sounded.
Galvanised following the break, Trinity exploded out of the blocks, piling pressure on the resolute WIT defence. Directly from the restart danger man Conor O’Carroll caught a miss-hit shot on the edge of the square and was painfully unlucky to see his kicked effort cannon off the crossbar. With their defence containing Waterford star man Austin Gleeson, Fionn O Rian Broin and Eoin Kelly were awarded the freedom to probe the Waterford defence for weakness, supplemented by the ever reliable free taking of Cian O’Sullivan. With 20 minutes remaining Trinity had eroded the visitors lead down to three points.
However, the player’s mammoth effort began to take its toll and the wind assisted Waterford regained the initiative, pulling away in the closing stages. Tiredness almost certainly contributed to Trinity ill-discipline as WIT fired 2-8 without reply in the closing stages. As the Waterford onslaught began, Eoin Skelly pulled off another remarkable save pushing the ball from the top corner to keep hope alive for Trinity. Eoin Kelly almost pulled a goal back for Trinity when he caught Waterford keeper Mark Fanning in possession thirty yards from his goal, but his lobbed shot dropped narrowly wide. However, two goals for Waterford in the closing stages of the contest killed off any hope of an upset, with Trinity claiming a consolation point with the game’s final play.
Despite the defeat, the score line wasn’t a fair reflection on Trinity who battled fiercely and at one point looked likely to pull off an upset against a team littered with inter-county stars. With qualification for the knockout stages of the competition now impossible, Trinity’s final fixture of their maiden year of Fitzgibbon Cup hurling will come against neighbours Dublin City University (DCU) on Tuesday, with the team hoping to finish the year on a high.
