Sport

UL must plan without Dooley

Univ of Limerick 0-15 Cork IT 0-13: UNIVERSITY OF Limerick will be without the services of Offaly forward Shane Dooley for this…

Sat Feb 26 2011 - 00:00

Univ of Limerick 0-15 Cork IT 0-13:UNIVERSITY OF Limerick will be without the services of Offaly forward Shane Dooley for this afternoon's Ulster Bank Fitzgibbon Cup final against city rivals Limerick IT.

Dooley received a straight red card from referee Alan Kelly 10 minutes from the end of yesterday’s hard-fought semi-final victory against Cork IT and is ineligible for this afternoon’s showpiece decider at Waterford IT (throw-in 2pm). Dooley had hoped that video evidence might help in a quick plea for leniency from disciplinary chiefs, but that proved inconclusive.

With 14 men, UL dug deep in the closing minutes to make it through to another final.

UL, who last lifted the trophy in 2003, will hope to exact revenge for their loss to LIT six years ago when the sides cross swords again.

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Yesterday’s game hung in the balance until the very end.

Leading by 0-12 to 0-10 when Dooley saw red, UL’s lead was cut to the bare minimum three times before the finish. But on each occasion, they hit back to re-establish their two-point advantage and eventually Ger Cunningham’s charges prevailed.

Approaching half-time UL led by 0-8 to 0-5. Colm Casey’s late first-half point cut their advantage to just two, and midway through the second half the sides were deadlocked at 0-10 apiece.

UL: T Lowry (Tipperary); P Stapleton (Tipperary), M Walsh (Kilkenny), S Hickey (Limerick); PJ Delaney (Kilkenny), B Bugler (Clare) (0-1), K Joyce (Kilkenny); P Cronin (Cork) (0-1), D Burke (Galway); B Carroll (Offaly) (0-2), B Beckett (Kilkenny) (0-2), S Dooley (Offaly) (0-5, 4f); K Morris (Tipperary) (0-3, 1f), P Kelly (Tipperary), A Quinn (Clare) (0-1). Subs: T Connors (Waterford) for Kelly (41), P Murphy (Tipperary) for Quinn (53).

CORK IT: T Quaid (Limerick); J O’Callaghan (Cork), E Dillon (Cork), J Herlihy (Cork); S McDonald (Cork), R Cashman (Cork), C Leahy (Cork); L McLoughlin (Cork) (0-1), P O’Connor (Clare) (0-2, one free); M Bowles (Cork) (0-1), C Casey (Cork) (0-2), T Murphy (Cork) (0-1, free); M O’Sullivan (Cork), C Fennelly (Kilkenny) (0-2), R Clifford (Cork) (0-4, 3f). Subs: B Weathers (Cork) for Herlihy (25), P Gould (Cork) for Clifford (46), S White (Cork) for O’Connor (53), S Daniels (Waterford) for Leahy (55).

Referee: Alan Kelly (Galway).