A dreary and bleak Sunday afternoon matched the mood of the Trinity senior hurling team as they conceded their first loss of the season, coming up against a clinical NUI Galway (NUIG) side who walked away victorious with a scoreline of 2-21 to 0-13.
A last-minute venue change for the Fitzgibbon Cup meet due to weather conditions saw the home side’s crowd of supporters congregate in Abbotstown, only to see a valiant effort by the home side fall to pieces in the second half.
It was the visitors who got the ball rolling just eight seconds in. John Fox blasted the ball past Trinity keeper Eoin Skelly to put his side in front. Trinity replied after a hard-fought ball broke to Jack O’Neill, who laid it off into the path of Conor O’Carroll, who drove the ball over the bar. NUIG were soon in the ascendancy once again, as Daragh Burke found his range for a point after a very quick puckout from his keeper.
Trinity’s defence were under pressure throughout, but defended solidly for most of the first half. Constant hassling by Ciaran Heeney and Luke Corcoran saw Cian O’Sullivan break away with a ball and win a free for his side, which was taken by Fionn O’Riain Broin. O’Riain Broin slotted it over the black spot to put Trinity back in contention once again.
O’Riain Broin scored another free moments later after a foul on O’Carroll. NUIG, though, never let up, pressing forward and moving the ball quickly and clinically to maintain their lead.
Trinity hit back once again after good pressure from Cian O’Riain Broin, with Corcoran coming to assist alongside Mark O’Keeffe. A classy piece of play by O’Keeffe, flicking the ball over the head of an opposing defender, gave O’Sullivan the ideal platform and he took his score accordingly.
This purple patch for Trinity came to a brisk end after Burke pulled the trigger for NUIG again, rocketing home an excellent goal. O’Riain Broin did manage to narrow the scoreline once more, driving high and between the posts. This seemed to put life back into the Trinity side, with the defence rushing to defend any threats that came their way. A lost ball in the forward line made its way back to centre back Manus Malone, who burst through a crowded NUIG midfield to claim his own score.
For their part, NUIG looked constantly dangerous, making runs and opening up space. Cian O’Riain Broin, a livewire for Trinity throughout, had little by way of clinical support play around him at times. Trinity finished the half with a free converted by O’Riain Broin after good work from Skelly and Donnacha Ryan, leaving six points between the sides at the break.
It did not take long for NUIG to attack again in the second half, with Skelly forced into a fine save to prevent another goal. Moments later, Ryan picked up onto a breaking ball, sending the sliotar sailing between the posts for the first score of the half.
However, things did not go Trinity’s way for the majority of the second half, with Ryan and Eoghan McNamara both shown yellow cards for differing offences as NUIG continued to slot over points thanks to the accuracy of Burke. Missed scoring opportunities left Trinity struggling to climb back up the scoreboard, with the speed of Galway’s play also posing big problems for the side.
A yellow card shown by the referee to an NUIG player for elbowing Ryan in the back brought little comfort, as the prolific Burke drove an even bigger wedge between the teams. Efforts by the Trinity men to get scores drifted to the outside of the posts on a number of occasions, with an excellent run by Malone from his own half failing to raise a much-needed white flag. A free was finally awarded inside the 21-yard line after O’Carroll was dragged down as he bore down on goal. O’Riain Broin converted Trinity’s final score of the second half. But in truth NUIG’s dominance was mostly uninterrupted, with Burke putting the gloss on the scoreline in the dying minutes. The final score read 2-21 to 0-13.
While there were positives in Trinity’s performance, attempts to nullify the attacking threat of NUIG were ultimately doomed. With defending champions Mary Immaculate and Division 1 League holders IT Carlow still to come, Trinity must go back to the drawing board and come out all guns blazing in the hopes of qualifying from the trickiest group in the Fitzgibbon Cup.
