Fitzgibbon Cup round-up - How Tipperary players fared in the quarter-finals

Fitzgibbon Cup action reached knockout stages this week, with four quarter-finals throwing up a lot of close ties along with a lot of Tipperary interest in all the games.

There were three Tipperary representatives each in the first match between UL and MTU Cork on Tuesday night, with the Limerick college coming out on top by six points at 2-22 to 1-19.

Tipp panelist Gearoid O'Connor (Moyne Templetuohy) had a great game at centre forward as he finished with 0-8 (0-4f) over the course of the 70 odd minutes, while Ciaran Connolly (Loughmore Castleiney) notched a point from midfield, while Bryan O'Mara (Holycross Ballycahill) had another good game at centre back.

For MTU Cork, Barry Murphy (Carrick Swans), Paddy Creedon (Thurles Sarsfields), and Barry Kehoe (Kilsheelan Kilcash) all hurled for the Rebel college, with the two latter named men notching 0-1 each in relatively quiet performances as their side went crashing out.

IT Carlow booked their place in the last four with an impressive win over a fancied UCC team who were reduced to 14-men in the first half, and despite Mark Kehoe (Kilsheelan-Kilcash) continuing his rich vein of form with 0-4 from play, they numerical advantaged told in the end on a 1-17 to 0-14 score line.

Fergal Hayes (Kiladangan) and Jerry Kelly (Borris-Ileigh) continued their good form for the IT Carlow men in this game again, and have been integral parts of the college's background in this campaign.

Aside from Kehoe for UCC, fellow Tipperary panelist Conor Bowe started his first game of the competition this year, but he is still a bit of the pace and was replaced at half time as it ends his side's interest in the competition this year, and so ending their three-in-a-row aspirations.

GMIT made their way to the semi-finals on Wednesday night after a good seven-point win over TUS MidWest in the third quarter-final, finally pulling through by 1-19 to 1-12.

The sole Tipperary interest on the Galway side was Portroe's AJ Willis, who had a very good game from corner forward, and grabbed 1-1 in the game as they outplayed their Limerick opponents.

Their was a significant scoring contribution from the Tipperary contingent on the TUS MidWest team, with Billy Seymour (Kiladangan) scrambling home a first half goal as he notched 1-4 (0-3f), with Evan Fitzpatrick (Roscrea) sailed over 0-2 while Kevin McCarthy (Toomevara), Kian O'Kelly (Kilruane MacDonaghs), and Ross Bonnar (Cashel KC) all knocking over 0-1 in their sides defeat.

The final tie of the last eight seen NUIG set up an all Galway semi-final clash against GMIT, as they squeezed past WIT in a very tight contest by 1-22 to 2-13.

Philip Hickey of Nenagh Éire Óg once again started at corner forward for NUIG and had another productive game before being replaced in injury time in the second half, with Evan Niland doing the damage with a haul of 0-14.

The end is result means that the competition is down to semi-final fare. See fixtures below:

Fitzgibbon Cup Semi-Finals:

NUIG vs GMIT

UL vs IT Carlow