A blistering third quarter from UL – in which Brian Lohan’s outfit hit 10 points without reply - secured their place in the Fitzgibbon Cup finals weekend.

Having toiled against the elements in the first period of this afternoon's quarter-final clash, UL produced an outstanding 15—minutes of hurling to overturn a four-point interval deficit into a six-point advantage (0-15 to 0-9) on their home patch.

Conor Martin (0-2), Jason Forde, John McGrath (0-3), Brian Stapleton, Stephen Bennett and Tommy Heffernan all found the target in an ultra-productive spell for UL.

UCD, to their credit, absorbed UL's period of dominance and clipped five points on the hop thereafter to cut the deficit to the minimum six minutes out - Ross King (0-3 frees), Dillon Mulligan and Gareth Sinnott the providers.

Crucially, though, Nicky English’s charges failed to restore parity and UL, through McGrath and midfielder Dan Morrissey, stretched their lead out to four, 0-18 to 0-14.

Conor O’Shea landed a monstrous free for UCD as the clock spilled into time added on and the centre-back was called forward at the death to strike a 20-metre free, his effort and, indeed, Cillian Buckley’s rebound, both repelled.