UCC keeper James Purcell "Player of the Tournament"

Tom O'Sullivan (left) and Dan Cronin lift Crowley Cup and below Liam Corbett in relaxed mood after the win - he had the phone number of the nearest heart specialist ready during the final itself!

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Ace defender Steve Corbett (left) and the winning UCC team

NATIONAL SUCCESS FOR AUL STUDENTS

The Oscar Traynor players weren't the only AUL performers to win national glory this season. Just a couple of weeks back, UCC managers Liam Corbett and Ger O’Sullivan took 16 AUL players, drawn largely from the AUL 1 side but including five from the third division team, to the University of Ulster in Coleraine to contest the finals of the Crowley Cup, the junior Inter-Varsity Tournament.

The AUL lads weren’t expected to make that much of an impression; after all they were the Cork college’s second string. They may be second string but they were far from second class and went on to win the tournament, gaining a kind of revenge for the first team by beating Queen’s, their conquerors, in the final.

The tourney started well for the AUL players when Steve Berkley, Dan Cronin and Tom O’Sullivan netted in a 3-1 win over University of Limerick. That put them into the semi-final and here O’Sullivan and Cronin struck again as they recorded a 2-1 win.

Would they meet their A team in the final? No was the answer from Queens who qualified with a 3-1 win. The Belfast team might have been expecting an easy win in the decider until the Cork lads opening the scoring through Declan Coleman.

But it looked as if the tie would run to form when Cronin picked up his second yellow and Queen’s equalised for the consequent spotter. Striker O’Sullivan wasn't having any of it and he scored twice in six magic minutes to give UCC a 3-1 half-time lead.

The second half turned into quite a siege of the Cork goal but keeper James Purcell (he was voted player of the tournament) and his back four of Steve Corbett, Paul Fehilly, Kieran McCarthy and American Devon McNeill, stood firm and relief came late on when Steven Power crossed for fellow sub Denis Maher to crack in the fourth.

The UCC B panel: James Purcell, Devon McNeill, Steve Corbett, Paul Fehilly, Kieran McCarthy, Dan Cronin, Alan Murphy, Steve Berkley, Declan Coleman, Alec Rose, Tom O’Sullivan, Denis Maher, Steven Power, Alan Quigley, Aaron O’Brien, Simon McEoin and Su Shou.