Leesiders look to sharpen shooting ahead of UCD test | Stephen Barry

As they did in last year’s thrilling final in the same venue, UCC produced a thunderous finish to storm past a CIT side which had established a seemingly decisive lead after fifty minutes of the hour.Last year it could certainly be argued that CIT played the better on the day only to be out-fought late on, however this year UCC were the superior side but were shackled by a capable CIT defence as well as their own shooting demons.Speaking after the game, UCC manager Eddie Enright was more relieved than anything to have seen his players raise their game in the final ten minutes to shake off a dogged CIT challenge:“That’s what Fitz is about... the last ten minutes; generally being in a game and putting yourself in a position to win. It didn’t look good for us with fifteen to go, we were down a few points and they had the momentum. We got a lucky enough goal to draw level and then I think the guys did really well in the last ten minutes in general and got some good scores. Unfortunately we missed a few scores, but in the end we got there.”However those missed scores will be an error which Enright will hope not to see repeated in Galway this weekend after back-to-back displays littered with wasteful shooting. In the final group game against NUIG, UCC missed six frees in a row as the game drew towards its conclusion, including misses from Brian Hartnett, Seamus Harnedy and William Egan. And then last Tuesday, UCC hit ten first half wides to hand their Rossa Avenue rivals, minus the services of Jamie Coughlan, a lead to cling on to.Half of those wides came from the stick of Conor Lehane, including two frees, while James Barry and Willie Griffen both sprayed placed balls either side of the posts as well.“We’ve actually six or seven freetakers in the team,” remarked Enright, “so it’s a nice position to be in because we have options and free-taking is a difficult art to be honest at the best of times, not to mind when you’ve wind and rain and there was plenty of wind there today.”But in truth CIT’s lead was built, not from their making the most of few chances, but from UCC making the least of many chances.Paul Haughney has been UCC’s most consistent shooter this year and so his loss to injury, even after a pair of missed chances, was a huge blow. However Brian Lawton stood up in the middle of the field, winning ball and taking the few chances that came his way, to compensate for Stephen Daniels dominance in the CIT full-back line.To their credit, the college’s management team were proactive on the sideline; when CIT gained dominance in the middle-third as they dropped players back, UCC broke this up by playing Lehane as a third midfielder to good effect.While UCC were failing to turn chances into scores, CIT were failing to turn opportunities into chances; or rather weren’t being let by a miserly UCC rear-guard which featured particularly strong performances from Stephen Maher, Kieran Murphy and Egan. Indeed, in Enright’s view, the defence primed UCC for their eventual victory: “We really struggled, especially for ten minutes in the second half and they got a lot of momentum. But during that ten minutes our defence did really well and they minimised the scoring chances. Then when the forwards did come good in the end, we were in a position to win it.”However the challenge of UCD will undoubtedly be a step up for Enright’s reigning champions: “We’ve played UCD in the league and they beat us by six points; well beat us on the day. So we’re under no illusions of what sort of a battle it’s going to be ahead of us.“We’ve just less than two weeks… I don’t think there’s a huge amount we can do, it’s more we’ll work on the sharpness. I think we made a few mistakes as a team, and we’ll have a couple of drills to rectify that.”That UCD side comes into the game on the back of a huge victory over UL, with Tipperary’s Noel McGrath dragging them over the line. McGrath can punish teams from anywhere although the favourites have had their hopes dented by the continued absence of the Kilkenny triumvirate of Walter Walsh, Cillian Buckley and John Tennyson.Still they are defensively solid, with Rory O’Carroll central to their cause and UCC will require a bigger day from the likes of Lehane and Harnedy, who is still carrying a niggling injury, if they are not to pay for their recent wastefulness in front of the posts.