IT Tralee 0-12; WIT 0-10
WIT exited this year Trench Cup – the second-tier, third-level football competition – at the penultimate stage when they lost out to their counterparts from Tralee in Maynooth on Friday last.
For much of the hour the Waterford college were the better of the two sides but they failed to take all of the chances presented to them, something that would eventually proved to be the difference between the sides.
The opening half was a low-scoring affair which saw the Suirsiders trail at the interval by the slenderest of margins. A brace of points from Ross Brady and a single effort by Brian Hanlon were cancelled out by Gary O’Driscoll, Patrick Curtain, Paul O’Donoghue and Eoin Ryan who all scored for the Tralee outfit in the opening period.
The Waterford students played with the wind at their backs in the second half but it was IT Tralee that started the second 30 minutes the better and stretched their lead courtesy of an early Alan O’Donoghue point.
However, WIT hit back and points in succession from Colin Coss, Sean Dalton and Donnacha Tobin had them back in front. IT Tralee responded with three successive points to regain their advantage; and while WIT levelled through Chris O’Connor, the Kerry lads soon regained the lead and threatened to pull away. Sean Dalton and Ross Brady cut WIT’s deficit to one late on, but any hopes of a Deise victory were ended when Shane Hennessy hit a point to secure a deserved win for the Kingdom representatives.
