UL GAA Club update

With all teams training hard for their league campaigns it was the Fresher hurlers and footballers who got the competitive season underway on Wednesday of Week 4 as both teams lined out in their respective fresher’s blitzes.

The Hurlers were in action in LIT and Mary I, while the Footballers played on home turf with matches both on Pitch 1 and the North Campus. The Footballers edged the final with a ‘Golden Point’ after double extra time against LIT and both our hurling teams made it to the final which was held in LIT, with Patsy Coffey’s charges edging out Joe McGrath’s boys by a point. Congratulations to both teams on getting UL’s year off to a winning start in both codes.

The UL Ladies football senior team got the defence of the Division 1 league title off to a winning start against a strong UCC team in Cork on Tuesday of Week 5. UL were a new look team with a lot of Freshers coming onto the panel this year. It was the UL girls who got off to a flying start with a goal from Louise Ward after just one minute of play. UL kept on the pressure and the defence held strong allowing UL to go into a 2-3 to no score lead with seven minutes on the clock.

The pace of the game was frantic for the first 13 minutes. UCC registered their first score on nine minutes which they followed up with two more. Points from Áine Tighe, Aisling McCarthy and Laura Rodgers kept UL in front. Then, perhaps the early stage of the season began to show as the UL legs tired and UCC began to find gaps in the UL defence.

UCC scored seven points without reply to put the score 3-5 to 1-10 in favour of UL with four minutes left. UL finished the half the stronger with a goal from Laura Rodgers and point from Áine Tighe. Two points from UCC left the UL girls three points on top at half time. Substitutions from the UL side saw fresh legs coming onto the pitch.

Again it was the UL ladies who started strong with points from Roisin Leonard and Áine Tighe. Both teams traded points for the remainder of the game and a final goal by Roisin Leonard gave UL a six point victory. A strong performance in the first round of the league shows positive signs of what’s to come for the remainder of the season.

Good teamwork by the UL forwards and tenacious defence by the back six kept the UCC attack at bay and protected goal keeper Aoife Keane who had a solid performance between the uprights. It’s onwards and upwards for this team. Final score: UL 5-12 UCC 1-18.

Our Intermediate Camogie team, under new management, got their league off to a winning start with a comprehensive victory over Tralee IT. This impressive start shows signs of what will hopefully be a strong season for the UL camogie teams. Well done girls.

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