IT WAS A CLASH of the titans in last week's Challenging Times, when UCC met UCG for only the second time in the history of the third level quiz competition.
In the end, it was to be UCC's night, as the Leesiders avenged their quarter final defeat by UCG in 1995.
At one point, UCG were within 10 points of UCC, but they failed to capitalise and UCC eventually romped home with a 175-115 score. Cue many glum faces in the UCG contingent, including former UCG winner Dave Finn, who looked like his dog had just died.
UCC's darling buds were Paul O'Leary, Shane Power, Tracy O'Keefe and sub Andrew Quinlan. UCG's bran buds were Cormac O Comhrai, Daithi O Faolain, Micheal O Cuileannain and sub John Egan (presumably the only one of the four who doesn't watch TnaG).
Next week, your correspondent's alma mater enters the fray, as TCD takes on Tallaght RTC. TCD teams, as regular Challenging Times watchers will know, have appeared to suffer from some kind of aural dyslexia in past years, rendering them unable to understand even very simple questions. This year may be different - though that's probably what Nixon said before Watergate.
Challenging Times can be seen every Tuesday evening at 8.30 p.m. on RTE 1 and is repeated at 11 a.m. on Fridays, also on RTE 1. The question master is, as ever, the housewives' choice, Kevin Myers.
