Home support on a crisp evening in Santry gave hope to Trinity’s senior hurling team as they faced IT Carlow in the second round of the Fitzgibbon Cup, but it was not meant to be as the men in hoops fell to a loss on a scoreline of 0-24 to 1-08. Despite a comeback in the second half through a second-half goal by Cian O’Sullivan, Trinity failed to build on last week’s win over Garda College and in the end Carlow’s accuracy in scoring proved the deciding factor in the encounter.
It was the visitors who set the tone from the throw in, with a point within the opening seconds. Trinity took a few minutes to get their shape in place, but showed their determination through chasing every ball. Carlow’s movement off the ball assisted in executing great scores, which were hard fought with great defending from the Trinity backs.
Trinity may not have won much ball in the opening minutes, but their work rate and pressure on the opposition showed, with Ger Dempsey hassling Carlow players down his wing. While Carlow kept converting scores, Trinity finally got their name on the scoreboard through a well-struck free from joint-captain Fionn Ó Riain Broin.
High balls struck into the Trinity attack were swept up quickly by the Carlow defence, with the full back even getting on the scoresheet. Trinity kept applying the pressure from midfield back, with a well-placed ball up to Donncha Butler ending up in the hand of Mark Gorey who struck the ball over from a right angle on the left. Ó Riain Broin finished the half with another well-taken free, but the scoreline was not in the home side’s favour as they trailed by 0-15 to 0-03 at the break.
Their opposition started the second half as they meant to go on, striking a well taken point from forty yards out. With this score answered by two frees from Ó Riain Broin, Trinity began to rise from the dust and attempted to get back on top. Superb efforts from Chris Lynch and Luke Corcoran saw frees won and converted, narrowing the gap slowly but surely.
A high ball into the Carlow square saw a scuffle occur, with Mark Corry dragged to the ground and awarded a penalty. While the penalty was not converted, it drove both teams to fight harder to gain the win. Cheers erupted from the sideline when O’ Sullivan burst through the Carlow defence and rattled the top right hand corner of the Carlow net, narrowing the gap to eight points. Carlow missed many scores after this and throughout the half, due to the continued pressure from the defence, while Trinity’s use of a cross field ball paid off with Butler flicking over a well won ball from the half forward line.
The sides exchanged points, with fresher substitute Des Duggan making an impact with a point running from the right wing. With O’Sullivan getting the last score for Trinity, the sideline erupted with rage after he was tackled late and no free was awarded, it unfortunately did not see the gap narrow significantly enough for Trinity to turn the scoreline around.
