Kilkenny players to the fore in early stages of Fitzgibbon Cup

The third level Fitzgibbon Cup kicked into action over the last week or two and there’s certainly been no shortage of Kilkenny stars on show thus far.

MTU of Cork and University of Galway kicked things off in the competition and led by Evan Niland, it was the westerners that held the edge as they won out by five points.

The winners were backboned by a number of Galway players including Evan Niland while for MTU, Shamrocks youngster Dara Mason appeared as a second half sub.

Aidan Walsh (Piltown), Darren Cuddihy (Conahy Shamrocks), Jamie O’Keeffe (James Stephens), Stephen Dermody (Dicksboro) and Stephen Keoghan (Graigue-Ballycallan) are all part of the extended MTU Cork squad while James Brennan (James Stephens) and Peter Holohan (St Patrick’s) are on the University of Galway panel.

The Group A trio is rounded off by SETU Waterford who will face both the Cork and Galway colleges in the coming weeks.

Kilkenny interest then went up a level when SETU Carlow and Mary I of Limerick collided in their Group B clash.

Carlow have 10 players in total from Kilkenny with Tom Doyle (Rower-Inistioge), Cian Kenny (James Stephens), David Blanchfield (Bennettsbridge), Richard Foley (Graignamanagh), Jack Morrissey (St Patrick’s, Ballyragget), Nicolas Redmond (O’Loughlin Gaels), Ryan Murphy (Blacks and Whites), Darragh Coughlan (St Martins), Darragh Dooley (Conahy Shamrocks ) and Eoin Cody (Shamrocks Ballyhale) all hoping to get a decent bit of action.

The Mary I game saw David Blanchfield, Cian Kenny and Jack Morrissey all play their part as the home side battled to a 1-16 each draw with Kilkenny senior star Cian Kenny scoring four points from play in an impressive display.

University College Cork (UCC) and Maynooth University also met in a competitive affair last Thursday and while the Leeside college was mainly represented by Cork stars, the Kildare side had a bunch of Kilkenny players with 10 on the starting lineup and another one coming on as a sub.

Niall Holland (Tullaroan), David Fogarty (O’Loughlin Gaels), Mark Donnelly (St Lachtain’s), Jamie Young (O’Loughlin Gaels), Pierce Blanchfield (Graignamanagh), Andy Hickey (Dunnamaggin), Billy Drennan (Galmoy), Luke Hogan (O’Loughlin Gaels), Conor Drennan (Galmoy) and Conor Kelly (O’Loughlin Gaels) were all in the first 15 while Kilkenny senior panelist Emmet Landy (Windgap) came on as a sub.

The game was played at the Mardyke and was close all the way through with UCC eventually coming through to win on a 1-16 to 0-17 scoreline.

Maynooth will have been happy with their display however as they played over half the contest with 14 men after St Lachtain’s corner back Mark Donnelly was sent off in the first half.

Kilkenny players provided all but one point of the Maynooth tally with Billy Drennan top-scoring with eight points.

There was also a win for University of Limerick over ATU Galway with the likes of Dean Mason (Shamrocks), Darragh Corcoran (Shamrocks), Ian Byrne (Glenmore) and Shane Staunton (Clara) part of the Limerick college squad.

Mason and Corcoran were absent as a result of their participation in the All-Ireland club final while Eoin Cody is another club winner aiming to shine in the competition.