Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final

DCU DOCHAS EIREANN 0-14 IT CARLOW 0-7

By Paul Keane at DCU Sportsgrounds

DCU are Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup champions for the fifth time in their history after a controlled and commanding victory over first-time finalists IT Carlow.

Powered on by Dublin and local Ballymun duo Paddy Small and Evan Comerford, who helped turn the screw with 0-5 between them, the tournament hosts were comfortable winners.

Monaghan's David Garland and Micheal Bannigan were impressive for Paddy Christie's men too with 0-04 and 0-03 respectively while two more Dubliners Shane Carthy and Sean Bugler also got in on the scoring action.

It was DCU's third big win in a row after taking out UCD and Queens in impressive fashion in previous rounds following their hard fought opening day win over Garda College.

They led by just three points at half-time but in a game dominated by high breezes took care of the underdogs with a storming second-half, holding IT Carlow scoreless in that period.

It brought to an end IT Carlow's fairytale run after reaching the final for the first time under Laois great Pat Critchley, taking out holders UCC along the way.

A strong breeze gusting across the pitch and marginally favouring DCU in the first-half made life difficult for both sets of players.

DCU enjoyed more of the possession but, just like their semi-final against UCD at the same venue a week ago, they came up against a well drilled counter-attacking outfit.

The underdogs were content to soak up whatever DCU could throw at them and then attempt to hit them on the break.

It was a strategy that yielded just two points for IT Carlow in the whole of the first-half and just one of those, from Laois attacker Evan Lowry, was from play. That turned out to be their only point from play in the entire game.

But the approach ensured that chances were at a premium for DCU and the hosts didn't make the most of their early opportunities, ensuring a low scoring encounter until the second-half when they cut loose.

Thomas E Donohoe was through on goal for DCU in the 13th minute, when they led 0-2 to 0-0, but couldn't hit the net to put real daylight between them.

Bannigan and then played in Garland in the 19th minute but he was unable to convert for DCU either.

Their first score from play came in the 17th minute when Shane Carthy, another strong performer for DCU, split the posts.

DCU took a 0-05 to 0-02 lead into the interval and looked the fitter and more determined side in the second-half, holding IT Carlow scoreless from play with Offaly's Cian Farrell registering all of their points from frees.

Small kicked two eye-catching points for DCU while Dublin goalkeeper Evan Comerford took his tally to 0-3 for the evening midway through the second-half with his third converted long-range free.

Small was on target again late on and another Dublin forward, Sean Bugler, rounded off the scoring with a fisted effort late on.

Black cards for Carlow duo Richard Hitchcock and Niall Hughes left them with depleted numbers late on under the new sin-bin rule.

Scorers for DCU: David Garland 0-4 (0-1f), Micheal Bannigan 0-3 (0-2f), Evan Comerford 0-3 (0-3f), Paddy Small 0-2, Shane Carthy 0-1, Sean Bugler 0-1.

Scorers for IT Carlow: Cian Farrell 0-6 (0-6f), E Lowry 0-1.

DCU: Evan Comerford; Daniel Corcoran, Brendan McCole, Conor Morrison; Kevin Flynn, Jordan Morrissey, Declan Monaghan; Sean McMahon, Shane Carthy; Brian Stack, Micheal Bannigan, Sean Bugler; Thomas E Donohoe, Paddy Small, David Garland. Subs: Tom Fox for Donohoe (38), Stephen Smith for Stack (52), Mark Curran for Morrison (54), Kieran Dwyer for Corcoran (60), Nathan Gavigan for McMahon (60).  

IT CARLOW: Killian Roche; Richard Hitchcock, Ronan Ryan, Josh Moore; Cathal Walsh, Trevor Collins, Conor Doyle; Niall Hughes, Sean Ryan; Adam Steed, Chris Byrne, Padraigh O'Toole; Cian Farrell, Jack Walsh, Evan Lowry. Subs: Gearoid Murphy for J Walsh (38), Sean Crowley for C Walsh (48), Tommy Griffin for Steed (50).

REFEREE: Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary).