UCD's Ben O'Carroll, Paul Honeyman, and Callum Bolton after the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup semi-final. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup semi-final
UCD 1-7 TU Dublin 0-10 (AET)
UCD win 5-4 on penalties
By Paul Keane at the GAA National Games Development Centre, Abbottstown
It took nearly two and a half hours but a marathon Sigerson Cup semi-final encounter was eventually settled by the boot of Ben O'Carroll at the end of a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
Holding his nerve having earlier missed a penalty in the first round of kicks, Roscommon and St Brigid's man O'Carroll slammed the ball to the net to conclude a sudden death epic.
Between the teams they took 16 penalties with just nine of them scored and seven wasted, TU Dublin's Jordan Morris dragging his kick wide and providing the platform for O'Carroll to step up as the matchwinner.
Barry McNulty was another hero for the 34-times champions as he slotted one of the crucial penalties and earlier converted a point from an advanced mark in the 82nd minute to take the game to penalties.
Monaghan defender Ryan O'Toole played an important role too with an extra-time goal to keep the Belfield outfit just about on track.
TU Dublin will kick themselves for wasting four of their eight penalty kicks overall though it was in keeping with a night of poor shooting overall, from both teams.
Still, John Divilly's side won't be overly fussed about how they progressed with high hopes of making up for last year's final defeat to Ulster University.
Next Wednesday's decider could even be a repeat of the 2024 showpiece as Ulster University will take on DCU in the second semi-final tomorrow evening in Cavan.
Both sides reached the last four with perfect records having won their three previous games and posted significant quarter-final tallies.
In UCD's case they blasted 5-18 beyond MTU Kerry to reach the penultimate stage while TU Dublin hit UL for 2-15 last week.
But all sense of craft and sharpness deserted both teams for much of the game with chance after chance wasted.
The sides shared 13 first-half wides between them with TU Dublin registering seven of those while UCD also dropped a series of point attempts short.
There was a bit of everything in there from poor shot execution to mishandling to misplaced passes in the final third and, admittedly, some powerful defending at times to keep the scoreboard operator idle.
UCD, bringing Malachy Stone, Charlie McMorrow and Callum Bolton into their team, hit the interval with a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.
Captain Daire Cregg scored two of those points while Meath attacker Aaron Lynch grabbed the other.
Morris struck TU Dublin's sole first-half point before going off injured after an apparent blow to the face. He didn't reappear until late on in extra-time.
That was a big setback for the 2013 champions as they were already without All-Star Dublin attacker Colm Basquel due to a hamstring injury suffered against Donegal last weekend in the National League.
But TU Dublin still gathered the momentum to hit three scores in a row in the first 10 minutes of the second-half, tying it up at 0-4 apiece.
Darragh Lovett, fresh off hitting nine points for Cavan on his full NFL debut last weekend, scored one of those TU Dublin points. Joe Prendergast and Mullingar man Danny McCartan got the others.
It was Lovett's second point for TU Dublin in the 55th minute that balanced it up again at 0-5 apiece, forcing extra-time and cancelling out an earlier UCD point from goalkeeper Killian Roche.
They were still deadlocked at half-time of extra-time, O'Toole's fortunate goal for UCD cancelling out three TU Dublin points.
O'Toole couldn't believe his luck when his point attempt dropped short and was fumbled over the line by the goalkeeper.
This game seemed destined to go all the way though and it was no surprise when they traded two more points each in the second period of extra-time to go to penalties.
Scorers for UCD: Ryan O'Toole 1-0, Daire Cregg 0-2 (1f), Aaron Lynch 0-2, Killian Roche 0-2 (1 45), Barry McNulty 0-1 (0-1m).
Scorers for TU Dublin: Darragh Lovett 0-4 (4fs), Jordan Morris 0-1, Joe Prendergast 0-1, Danny McCartan 0-1, Ollie Brooks 0-1, Cian Reilly 0-1, Jack Lundy 0-1.
UCD: Killian Roche (Killeshin, Laois); Ryan O'Toole (Scotstown, Monaghan), Malachy Stone (Barndarrig, Wicklow), Charlie McMorrow (Cuala, Dublin); Donncha Gilmore (Steelstown, Derry), Charlie Drumm (The Downs, Westmeath), Darragh McElearney (Drumhowan, Monaghan); Diarmuid Moriarty (Curraha, Meath), Peter Duffy (Cuala, Dublin); Cormac Egan (Tullamore, Offaly), Barry McNulty (Glencar Manorhamilton, Leitrim), Callum Bolton (Sarsfields, Kildare); Daire Cregg (Boyle, Roscommon), Luke Breathnach (Ballinteer St John's, Dublin), Aaron Lynch (Trim, Meath).
Subs: Sam Callinan (Ballina Stephenites, Mayo) for Gilmore 29, Ben O'Carroll (St Brigid's, Roscommon) for Breathnach h/t, Mark McNally (Ballinteer St John's, Dublin) for Moriarty 41, Paul Honeyman (Ballinamore, Leitrim) for Lynch 48, David McEntee (Dunboyne, Meath) for Cregg 53, Liam Costello (Milltown, Galway) for McMorrow (h/t e/t), Senan Forker (Castleknock, Dublin) for Egan (h/t e/t).
TU Dublin: Jack Rodgers (Naas, Kildare); Cormac McGeough (Mullahoran, Cavan), Matt Nolan (An Tochar, Wicklow), Niall Carolan (Cuchulainn, Cavan); Joe Prendergast (Greystones, Wicklow), Cian Reilly (Killygarry, Cavan), Darragh Fee (An Tochar, Wicklow); Darragh Rooney (St Jude's, Dublin), Sean Hanifin (Naas, Kildare); Sean Reynolds (Stabannon Parnells, Louth), Jack Lundy (Ballinteer St John's, Dublin) Danny McCartan (St Loman's, Westmeath); Jordan Morris (Kingscourt, Cavan), Conor Fee (An Tochar, Wicklow), Sean Jones (Iniskeen, Monaghan).
Subs: Ollie Brooks (Donabate, Dublin) for Morris 34, Darragh Lovett (Killygarry, Cavan) for Brooks h/t, Brooks for Rooney 51, Morris for McCartan 77.
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin).
