Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup Round 2 results:

IT Carlow 0-18 CIT 0-12

NUI Galway 1-8 Queens University 1-7

IT Tralee 6-20 IT Sligo 1-9

DIT 4-14 AIT 2-8

By Declan Rooney

Last year’s runners-up, NUI Galway, will play Garda College in Round 3 of the Sigerson Cup as they finally shook off Queen’s University in a strong second-half showing at The Dub.

Callum O’Neill’s goal put Queen’s ahead after the break, but a couple of Peter Cooke points steadied NUIG and they closed out the win.

Points from Rob Finnerty and Sligo’s Nathan Mullen got NUI Galway off to a great start in Belfast, but their lead was aided by the home side’s five early wides.

NUIG may have been dismayed to lose out after extra-time and a free taking competition in round one against another Antrim side, St Mary’s, but when Cein Darcy hit the net for the Galway side as the second quarter started they were five points ahead.

Armagh’s Ben Crealy steadied Queens with their first point and a couple more from O’Neill and James McMahon added to their tally, and they made it five points from six by the interval when they only trailed by one, 1-3 to 0-5.

It was a tight start to the second-half but O’Neill fired Queens into the lead with their first goal in this year’s competition. Cooke put one between the sides with a quick point for NUI Galway and he then levelled matters with his second three minutes later and they powered to the 1-8 to 1-7 win, despite a couple of late Conor Martin points.

Second-half goals from James Conlon and Oisin Lynch sent DIT into Round 3 where they will face UCD after a convincing victory over Athlone IT at Grangegorman.

Luke Loughlin and Marc Jackson got DIT up and running with points and by the time Sean Flanagan hit the net for the Dublin students they had worked their way into a 1-5 to 0-0 lead.

Two quick points and a successful Gio Russo penalty brought Athlone IT back into the tie, but five minutes later Lynch bagged a second goal for DIT.

It seemed like a decisive strike for DIT, but just before the interval Athlone IT hit back, which meant they only trailed by 2-7 to 2-2 at half-time.

James Conlon then fired DIT’s third goal seven minutes after the break, while Lynch’s second 12 minutes from time wrapped up a 4-14 to 2-8 win, which set up an all-Dublin Round 3 clash.

Defeat to DCU in the first round sent IT Carlow through the back door, but they recovered brilliantly to reach Round 3 after a 0-18 to 0-12 victory over Cork IT in Carlow.

The Carlow students hadn’t gotten off to the best start and trailed by 0-6 to 0-5 with time running out in the first half, but Brian Hurley started them on a run of four unanswered points saw them lead 0-9 to 0-6 at the interval.

UCD beat Cork IT last week, but the Cork side showed they were in for the battle with two quick scores to start the second half, and after CIT briefly closed the gap, Conor O’Toole secured an outing against UL for IT Carlow next week.

Two goals from Conor Keane and a third from James Duggan inside the first 15 minutes put IT Tralee on their way to the third round and to a resounding victory over IT Sligo at the home of John Mitchells GAA club in Tralee.

Keane rattled his first goal in the second minute and, despite a quick IT Sligo reply from Jamie Brennan, Keane’s second three minutes later and a third from Duggan ended the contest at that early stage.

The misery continued for IT Sligo. IT Tralee held a 5-12 to 0-3 lead at the interval with a couple of quick goals just before half-time, and with Jack Savage and Mark O’Shea in form for the Kerry college, Iarla Courtney’s sixth goal saw them secure a Round 3 encounter with St Mary’s College Belfast.