Donncha Gilmore of UCD celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Electric Ireland Higher Education GAA Sigerson Cup Round 2 match between UCD and Ulster University at Dave Billings Park in Belfield, Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile.
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup
UCD 1-13 Ulster University 0-8
Queen's University 1-14 TUS Midlands 1-10
UL 0-8 Maynooth University 0-7
UCD made it two wins from two in the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup with a fine victory over Ulster University at Bllings Park, Belfield this evening.
The win was all the more impressive considering they were reduced to 14 men after 22 minutes by the dismissal of captain Kevin Kennedy.
With the wind at their backs in the first half, UCD started strongly with a flurry of scores from Diarmuid Moriarty, David Garland, and Daire Cregg.
Ruairi Canavan and Peter Óg McCartan struck back for the Ulster side and it looked like they were right back in it when Kennedy got his marching orders.
But it was UCD who finished the half more strongly as points from Liam Smith and Aaron Lynch helped them into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead by the break.
Ulster University scored the first three points of the second half to reduce the deficit to the minimum and at that stage seemed to have all the momentum.
But UCD gritted their teeth and took control again through points from Cregg, Garland, and Peter Duffy, before wrapping the game up with a late goal from Donncha Gilmore.
A cracking goal from big midfielder Joe McDaid proved to be the decisive score as Queen’s University ran out four-point winners over TUS Midlands.
The teams were tied at six points apiece after a very evenly contested first-half. But then seven minutes into the second half McDaid charged through the TUS Midlands defence and blasted the ball to the roof of the net.
It was a score that gave his team a winning momentum they never really surrendered thereafter.
In the final match of the evening UL edged out Maynooth University by a single-point after a tight and tense encounter.
The teams were level at four points apiece at half-time, but a power-surge midway through the second-half gave UL a two point buffer and they were after to hold on for a hard-fought win.
