Jason Forde and Tony Kelly of form in comfortable UL victory

UL 2-24 NUI Galway 0-9

10 January 2015; Brian Lawton, Cork, in action against Jason Forde, University of Limerick. Waterford Crystal Cup Preliminary Round, Cork v University of Limerick, CIT GAA Grounds, Bishopstown, Co. Cork. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

Daragh Small

UL made the perfect start to their 2015 Independent.ie Fitzgibbon Cup campaign as they hammered NUI Galway in treacherous conditions at Dangan.

Tipperary star Jason Forde hit ten points and Clare’s Tony Kelly also found his range as the UL midfield laid the foundations for a 21 points victory.

Two second-half goals from corner forward Kevin O’Brien put the game beyond doubt and they never looked back as the snow began to fall in a blizzard.

Despite playing with a strong breeze at their backs in the first-half NUI Galway hit ten wides and went in 0-9 to 0-5 down.

UL hit the first four points of the game – Kelly got two with Conor Martin and Kevin O’Brien also on target.

JP O’Connell’s side finally get their first score when Niall O’Brien was set up by Cathal Mannion in the tenth minute.

But they weren’t making full use of the elements and despite points from Bobby Duggan and Stephen Hynes they trailed by 0-9 to 0-5 at half-time.

At that stage Forde had four points to his name and he got his fifth four minutes into the second-half.

That added to the points from John McGrath and Mark Carmody and the Limerick side were control.

They hit a further 1-4 without reply – Kevin O’Brien’s first goal came following a great save from Ciaran Fahy to deny Forde a fabulous individual effort.

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That was the beginning of the end for NUI Galway, Duggan got their first score of the second-half in the 43rd minute.

Kevin O’Brien’s second goal made it 2-18 to 0-6 in the 47th minute and the game was effectively over.

Duggan kept tacking away for NUI Galway but they were consolatory scores at this stage.

Forde hit over three more sores in the closing minutes to round off a thoroughly positive outing for Brian Lohan’s men.

Scorers – UL: J Forde 0-10 (0-4f); K O’Brien 2-1; T Kelly 0-4; B Stapleton 0-3; J McGrath 0-2; S O’Gorman, C Martin, M Carmody, PJ Scully 0-1 each.

NUI Galway: B Duggan 0-4 (0-2f, 1’65); N O’Brien 0-2; S Hynes, E Brannigan, G Hennelly 0-1 each

UL: P Maher; J Brown, B Troy, E Moriarty; D Quinn, D McInerney, B Stapleton; J Forde, T Kelly; J McGrath, S O’Gorman, T Heffernan; K O’Brien, C Martin, M Carmody

Subs: PJ Scully for Heffernan (44), K Walsh for O’Brien (50)

NUI Galway: C Fahy; C Diviney, J Habury, R Lane; S Cooney, C Cleary, S Hynes; E Brannigan, P Mannion; K Ryan, N O’Brien, B Duggan; G Hennelly, C Mannion, S Ward.

Subs: B O’Connor for Ryan (39), D Burke for Brannigan (45), S Dooley for Ward (47), G Fennelly for Diviney (48), C Hardiman for Dooley (50)

Referee: Fergal Horgan (Tipperary)