University of Limerick had to dig deep to defeat ATU Galway 2-23 to 2-10 in the first round of the Fitzgibbon Cup.
Last year's Fitzgibbon Cup champions were far from their best but showed true champion mentality to prevail.
The Galway college wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as Ronan Murphy's goal after two minutes, along with points from Kevin Cooney got them off to a flying start, with a 1-3 to 0-4 lead after 10 minutes.
After 23 minutes, they had their second goal through Cian Falon, as they looked to cause a huge upset.
While the free taking of Cooney kept ATU Galway ahead, UL showed why they are favourites with their big players delivering, with a goal from Michael Kiely getting them back into the game, while he scored his second on the stroke of half-time.
An incredible display from Gearoid O'Connor ensured they went into the interval 2-10 to 2-06 ahead.
The second half showed why UL are Fitzgibbon Cup favourites, as they limited the Galway college to just four scores in the second half. While UL's talented forward line were clinical in taking their chances to run out comfortable winners in their first Fitzgibbon Cup game.
In the night's other game, UCC edged past Maynooth University with a 1-18 to 0-19 win to start their Fitzgibbon Cup campaign.
Despite having some key players missing, UCC got off to a quick start, with Jack O'Connor scoring 1-2 but had to be replaced at half time.
O'Connor's goal could have been the start of a scoring spree for the Cork college, with the Maynooth goalkeeper Niall Holland making several saves in the first half, as UCC took a 1-11 to 0-08 lead to the interval.
Maynooth regrouped in the second half and through standout performances from Emmet Landy and Andy Hickey, were level with just minutes to go.
However, two points in added time ensured UCC got their Fitzgibbon Cup campaign off to a win.
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