Darragh Canavan, left, and Ruairi Canavan of Ulster University celebrate with their father, former Tyrone legend Peter Canavan, after victory in the Electric Ireland Higher Education GAA Sigerson Cup final match between UCD and Ulster University at Austin Stack Park in Tralee, Kerry. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup Final
Ulster University 3-12 UCD 0-15
By Paul Brennan at Austin Stack Park
No disputing or denying Ulster University’s credentials as Sigerson Cup champions after they blitzed a fancied UCD side with three first half goals to set up a six-point win and a first championship title since 2008.
At a wet and windy Austin Stack Park in Tralee, Ulster University played the elements and the opposition perfectly, even if a second half wobble allowed UCD close an 11-point deficit to just four by the 51st minute.
Still, the old adage that goals win games (usually) held up as UCD’s inability to raise a green flag ultimately cost them, even though they scored 0-15 with Roscommon’s Daire Cregg in fine form with nine points, and Davy Garland from Monaghan chipping in with five.
When the teams met in round two of the competition in January the Dublin side had an eight-point win in Belfield, though whether that fed into any sort of complacency in the final is doubtful. Truth is, Ulster University blitzed them for those three goals and never looked back from there.
Darragh Canavan opened the scoring for Ulster University in the second minute, and by game end the Errigal Ciaran club man, along with his brother Ruairi, would account for nine of their team’s points.
Daire Cregg got UCD off the mark with two early points, but then Ulster University went on a scoring rampage, hitting the men in blue for 2-2 in the next five minutes.
After a 10th minute Ruairi Canavan free, the pre-match underdogs netted two goals within a minute of each in the 12th and 13thh minutes.
First Ruairi Canavan set Niall Loughlin through for a well taken finish past Killian Roche, and then Roche pushed away Ciaran Daly’s shot where Oisin McCann was waiting to collect and drive the ball back past Roche.
A quick follow-up point from Loughlin made it 2-3 to 0-2 and the Dublin side looked to be pedalling squares., though Cregg had the next two scores, from a free and from play, and then Davy Garland got two more to make it 0-6 to 2-3.
In heavy rain and a tricky wind, Darragh Canavan pointed twice for Ulster University, and then they struck for a third goal. McCann won a UCD kick-out and set up Ben McCarron for another close-range finish to make it 3-5 to 0-6 at the interval.
The Canavan brothers had extended their team’s lead to 11 points by the 35th minute and if UCD were to offer anything then the time was now. And how they responded.
Six unanswered points from Cregg (3), Garland (2) and substitute Liam Costello cut the lead to five points, 3-8 to 0-12, with UCD now dictating the play and driving forward.
Ulster University finally got a score – their first in 14 minutes – when John Largo Ellis’s shot in the 47th minute touched the crossbar on its way over, and though Garland and Cregg scored two more for UCD, the Dublin side were playing the clock as much as the opposition now.
Ruairi Canavan’s free kept the leaders ahead by five, and UCD knew they needed goals to salvage the game at this stage. They never arrived. Ulster University defended brilliantly in the closing minutes but it was fitting that Darragh Canavan had the final say with the game’s final point, as Ulster University clinched the honours, their sixth in all, five as the University of Ulster Jordanstown.
Scorers for UU: D Canavan 0-5, R Canavan 0-4 (3f), N Loughlin 1-1, O McCann 1-0, B McCarron 1-0, J Largo Ellis 0-1, E Brown 0-1
Scorers for UCD: D Cregg 0-9 (4f, 1m), D Garland 0-5 (3f), L Costello 0-1
**Ulster University: **R McGeehin (Donegal); R Boyle (Monaghan), C Diamond (Derry), S Donaghy (Tyrone); J Largo-Ellis (Fermanagh); R Magill (Down), P Óg McCartan (Tyrone); O McCann (Tyrone), B McCarron (Derry); R McCaffrey (Fermanagh), C Cush (Tyrone); C Daly (Tyrone); D Canavan (Tyrone), N Loughlin (Derry), R Canavan (Tyrone). Subs: E Magee (Armagh) for McCartan (inj, 22), É Brown (Down) for C Daly (44), Dara Curran (Tyrone) for N Loughlin (62), Jack Cunningham (Armagh) for C Cush (62), D Fullerton (Tyrone) for R Canavan (64).
UCD: K Roche (Laois), L Smith (Dublin), R Brickenden (Mayo), D McElearney (Monaghan); R O’Toole (Monaghan), S Callinan (Mayo), S Coffey (Meath); P Duffy (Dublin), J Lynam (Westmeath); D Gilmore (Derry), D Cregg (Roscommon), D Moriarty (Meath), A Lynch (Meath), C Bolton (Kildare), D Garland (Monaghan).
Subs: L Costello (Galway) for L Smith (ht), Cormac Egan (Offaly) for P Duffy (36), S Forker (Dublin) for D Moriarty (36), B McNulty (Leitrim) for A Lynch (44), Theo Clancy (Dublin) for D Gilmore (60).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary)
