Round-up: Wednesday's Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup action
UCC's Conor Daly in Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup action. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup
Round 2A
UCC 1-19 Queen's University 2-14
Round 2B
Ulster University 1-16 MTU Cork 1-11
ATU Galway 1-20 St Mary's 0-12
University of Galway 1-27 ATU Sligo 4-15
Ulster University continue to be some way short of full strength with the Tyrone trio of Ruairí Canavan, Eoin McElholm and Ciarán Daly among the absentees from Barry Dillon’s team this evening, but the 2024 Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup winners and still in with a shout of taking back the famous trophy after 1-2 from Cian O’Brien in the space of five minutes after half-time turned the tide of their clash with MTU Cork in Belfield tonight.
UU always looked that bit sharper on the ball, but MTU Cork were more efficient with their chances in the first half and led by 0-8 to 0-6 when Brian Thompson fisted over the opening score of the second half.
By that stages UU led the wide count by six to one and had missed more chances too, with Gary Mohan – scorer of 0-3 early in the game – off the pitch due to injury.
Fermanagh’s O’Brien caught fire, however, with two points either side of a cool finish under Josh Woods for the game’s opening goal, and that both switched the lead and eased UU’s nerves.
Fintan Fenner had another excellent game for MTU and he was first to react to a breaking ball to slam in an equalising goal, but despite the best efforts of Charlie Keating and Seán Dore in the middle, UU got more out of their bench, with the Down pair Harry Magill and Jamie Doran adding their names to the scoresheet as they went on a run of five points unanswered to build a decisive lead.
On a night when all three Ulster Colleges travelled to Dublin for neutral venue ties, Ulster University went back up the M1 happy, but St. Mary’s involvement in this year’s competition is over after ATU Galway ran riot in the second half of their game in Blanchardstown.
Killanin’s Ryan Roche got the westerners out to a superb start with two early two-pointers while Paul Kelly added a goal to extend their lead, but St. Mary’s played their best football in the lead up to half-time, hitting four points in a row from Shea McCann, Seánie O’Donnell, Oisín Hogan and Ronan Quinn.
Mary's trailed by just one (1-7 to 0-9) at the interval and then completely lost their way, conceding 0-8 without reply.
Since both Queen’s University and UCC won their first round ties, those two universities still had their safety net in place going to Abbotstown. There are no more backdoors for either school but it’s UCC who have made their quarter-final berth secure thanks to a Ruairí Murphy two-pointer and a late Cormac Dillon free that pipped Queen’s at the post.
Feargal Logan’s side struck the first meaningful blow when Antrim’s Ryan McQuillan palmed the ball to the UCC net after Donal Scullion hit the crossbar, but that only lit UCC’s fire.
Michael McSweeney fired the ball over the bar twice, once from outside the arc, then Ciarán Santry goaled to nudge the Cork side into the lead. Losing Conor Daly to a black card didn’t even deter them and after McSweeney’s second two-pointer meant they outscored Queen’s by 0-4 to 0-1 while the Clonakilty man was off the field, Daly came back on to kick the last score, making it 1-10 to 1-5 at the break.
The lead was still at four points going into the last few minutes but Noah Grimes’ goal and two quickfire points snatched the lead for Queen’s, only for Murphy to snatch it back in the first minute of added time.
Joe Keaney, Favour Shehu, Emmanuel Shahu and Eoghan McFarland all goaled for ATU Sligo in their do-or-die clash with University of Galway at Dangan, but that still wasn’t enough as the superior firepower of the home side put them into tomorrow afternoon’s round three draw.
Eoin Colleran (1-8), Cillian Ó Curraoín (0-7) and Mark McInerney (0-6) led the scoring for University of a Galway in remarkable and topsy-turvy encounter that looked dead and buried when it was 1-16 to 2-2 with 23 minutes played.
The lead was still double figures after 38 minutes when ATU Sligo hit four points either side of Favour Shehu’s green flag, and another purple patch with around five minutes to play saw them take the lead by a point entering stoppage time. Shane McGrath and Ó Curraoín gave this incredible contest a final flourish when they hit a pair of doubles to see out the win.
