Darragh Kirwan impressed for Maynooth in their victory over Queens.
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup quarter-final
MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY 0-10 QUEENS UNIVERSITY BELFAST 0-9
By Paul Keane at Maynooth GAA grounds, Kildare
With his proud father standing just yards away behind the rope, Eoghan Frayne kicked Maynooth University through to the last four of the Sigerson Cup with a dramatic stoppage time matchwinner.
It's been a terrific few days for the county title winner with Summerhill who made his National League debut for Meath just last Saturday, scoring five points in that game.
He didn't manage quite as much in this evening's quarter-final encounter for his college but the two he did score were hugely significant in a tense, low-scoring affair.
His first arrived midway through the first-half and his second came three minutes into stoppage time when, with the teams tied on 0-10 apiece, he split the posts from the left wing with a beautiful kick from a free. No doubt his father celebrated that one.
Truth be told, Maynooth might have won with a little more to spare but butchered a series of decent attacking opportunities in the second-half.
They have little tradition to speak of in the competition with just one win from 1976 and their last final appearance was in 2012.
But after knocking out holders UCC and taking down a Queens side that arrived in Kildare with a perfect record following wins over DCU and TUS Midlands, Aidan Minnock's side will fancy themselves as title contenders.
They have a strong set of forwards and Kildare senior Darragh Kirwan, a key player for county champions Naas, top scored again with five points.
Wicklow defender Tom Moran kicked an important first-half point too while another Meath player, Ruairi Kinsella, and Offaly's Keith O'Neill were both on the mark in the second-half.
Queens may feel hard done by that after winning both of their previous games they had to travel to Maynooth who'd previously lost to UL in Round 2A before bouncing back with that win over UCC last week.
It was Maynooth's third game running on home soil in the competition and while Queens opened up an early 0-4 to 0-2 lead with points from free-taker Luke Donnelly, Diarmuid King and Joe McDade, it was back level at 0-4 apiece by the 17th minute.
Former AFL player Anton Tohill, fit again after a hand injury, started at midfield and was an influential figure though Maynooth hit the interval with a slender 0-7 to 0-6 lead.
With a last four place on the line, the second-half was a low-scoring, nervous affair with six points split evenly between the teams.
Maynooth kicked four wides in the half and a number of promising looking breaks forward came to nothing following misplaced passes to the inside forward line.
Donnelly twice levelled the game up at 0-8 and 0-9 apiece before Maynooth were awarded a free on the left wing and Frayne made no mistake with a perfect kick to put his team through.
Maynooth University scorers: Darragh Kirwan 0-5 (0-3f), Eoghan Frayne 0-2 (0-2f), Tom Moran 0-1, Ruairi Kinsella 0-1, Keith O'Neill 0-1.
Queens University Belfast scorers: Luke Donnelly 0-6 (0-5f), Diarmuid King 0-1, Matthew Murnaghan 0-1, Joe McDade 0-1.
MAYNOOTH (Kildare unless stated): Cian Burke; Tom Moran (Wicklow)
Tom McPhillips (Monaghan), Ryan Burke; Dan Scahill (Westmeath), Sean Greene (Laois), Paddy McDermott; Luke Killian, Colin Walsh (Roscommon); Kevin O'Sullivan (Westmeath), Shane O'Sullivan, Sean Leech (Westmeath); Darragh Kirwan, Eoghan Frayne (Meath), Ruairi Kinsella (Meath).
Subs: Keith O'Neill (Offaly) for Shane O'Sullivan h/t, James Fitzpatrick (Roscommon) for Leech 44, Rian Gibbons for Greene 53.
QUEENS: Ronan Rafferty (Derry); Sean McCarthy (Armagh), Eoin Corry (Tyrone), Paddy McCarthy (Down); Matthew Murnaghan (Tyrone), Rory Donnelly (Tyrone), P McGuirk; Anton Tohill (Derry), Joe McDade (Fermanagh); Ronan Boyle (Antrim), Conall Bohill (Antrim), Joe Tunney (Down); Dan Higgins (Derry), Diarmuid King (Fermanagh), Luke Donnelly (Tyrone).
Subs: Padraig Purcell (Dublin) for Bohill 13, James O'Hara (Down) for McGuirk 46, Jack Devlin (Down) for Higgins 50.
Referee: David Hickey (Carlow).
