Donal Burke returns from injury in DCU’s Fitzgibbon win

Fri, 31st January 2020

Dublin hurler Donal Burke made a welcome return from injury to help DCU to a 1-23 to 2-14 FItzgibbon Cup quarter-final victory over Waterford IT in DCU's Sportsgrounds on Thursday night.

The Na Fianna man has been sidelined recently and missed last Sunday's HL opening round defeat to Kilkenny but could be back in contention for this Sunday's encounter with Laois in Parnell Park (2.0).

The Glasnevin university will now face UCC in the semi-final with IT Carlow playing Mary Immaculate, LImerick in the other semi-final (double-header on Saturday, February 8, DCU Sportsgrounds).

The Kilkenny forward trio of John Donnelly, Jim Ryan and James Bergin did the scoring dame for DCU, amassing 1-12, between them as DCU ran out deserving winners with Dublin's Riain McBride hitting two points from centre-forward before being replaced by Donal Burke in the 55th minute.

SCORERS - DCU: J Donnelly 0-6, J Ryan 1-3, R O’Connor 0-4 (0-3f, 0-1 ’65’), J Burke, J Bergin 0-3 each, R McBride 0-2, B Ryan, D Reck 0-1 each. WIT: S Condon 0-11 (0-10f), B Nolan 1-1 (1-0 pen, 0-1f), A Gleeson 1-0 (1-0f), T Barron 0-2.

DCU: O Foley; L Gannon, P Smyth, C Firman; B Ryan, C Burke, E Shefflin; D Reck, D Gray; J Donnelly, R McBride, J Burke; J Bergin, J Ryan, R O’Connor. Subs: F Whitely for Gray (42), D Burke for McBride (55), E Delaney for J Ryan (55), K Burke for Gannon (59).

WIT: B Nolan;T Hayes, K Hassett, S Smyth; C Lyons, M De Paor, T Walsh; R Smithers, J Prendergast; R Flynn, C Flood, T Barron; E Meaney, C Kirwan, S Condon. Subs: M Daykin for Smyth (ht), M Mahoney for Flood (49), A Gleeson for Meaney (57).

REF: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).