Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup Final

UCC 1-16 UL 0-16 AET

By Dylan O'Connell at the SETU Waterford Arena

UCC won the Sigerson Cup for the first time since 2019 on Wednesday evening.

This was UCC and UL's second meeting in the competition this year with the Limerick college having won the last meeting in Cork.

That created an interesting climate in the opening fifteen minutes as the sense of familiarity meant direct scoring opportunities were hard to come by.

Even UCC’s goal was the product of a free that saw Cathail O’Mahony’s attempt get punched in by Dylan Geaney.

UL’s first half best summed up the atmosphere as their opening scores were converted frees by Paul Keaney and they didn’t raise a white flag from open play until the 25th minute.

UCC came through this cold war and ended up with a five point advantage going into the final few minutes of the first half. Their Limerick counterparts hit back a combined effort from Emmett McMahon, Ciarnan Downes, and Darragh Cashman, and that cut the deficit to just two at the break.

They did try and get a goal with Daniel Walsh but his low shot from the left was stopped by Dylan Foley. Downes attempted to slot in the rebound and this was blocked on the line by Briain Murphy.

UCC had a flurry of their own, this time after the break, and three points in a row looked to halt the UL comeback. Instead, this further spurred on the Limerick college and they nudged into a two point lead thanks to a seven to nothing run midway through the second half.

The Cork college had to take a second, and when they did, Cronin and Geaney combined to tie the game up. Michael O’Connor, who came on as a substitute for Killian Falvey, squeezed over what he thought was the game winning point but Darragh Cashman cancelled this out in the final second of five minutes added on.

UCC got three without a response in the first period of extra-time through Fionn Herlihy, Sean O’Connor, and Cronin. UL got one through McMahon, and this forced a high press from the college as they looked to get two more scores to equalise.

UCC hung on and a converted free from Geaney marked the final point of the evening and the Cork college were crowned Sigerson Cup champions for 2023.

Scorers for UCC: Dylan Geaney 1-4 (3fs), Mark Cronin 0-5 (3fs), Fionn Herlihy 0-2, Cathail O’Mahony 0-2, Killian Falvey 0-1, Michael O’Gara 0-1, Sean O’Connor 0-1.

Scorers for UL: Paul Keaney 0-3 (3fs), Jack Coyne 0-3, Darragh Cashman 0-2, Emmet McMahon 0-4, Ciaran Downes 0-2, Eoghan McLaughlin 0-1, Mark Lenehan 0-1.

UCC: Dylan Foley; Briain Murphy, Daniel O’Mahony, Damien Bourke, Maurice Shanley, Shane Merritt, Bill Curtin, Ruairi Murphy, Brian Harnett, Jack Murphy, Fionn Herlihy, Killian Falvey, Dylan Geaney, Mark Cronin, Cathail O’Mahony.

Subs: Michael O’Gara for Killian Falvey (48), Liam Wall for Bill Curtin (50), Sean O’Connor for Cathail O’Mahony (60), Mark Cooper for Briain Murphy (60), Sean Quilter for Dylan Geaney (ET), Dan Peet for Damien Bourke (ET).

UL: Ronan McElligott; Jack Glynn, Colm Moriarity, Jack Coyne, Darragh Cashman, Jack O’Brien, Daniel Walsh, Paul Keaney, Emmet McMahon, Ciaran Downes, Ikem Ugwueru, Eoghan McLaughlin, John Hayes, Aaron Griffin, Mark Lenehan.

Subs: Paul Walsh for John Hayes (34), Sean McDonnell for Ikem Ugwueru (35), Brian McNamara for Jack O’Brien (38), Eoghan O’Sullivan for Paul Keaney (58), David Mangan for Aaron Griffin (ET), Cian Glennon for Daniel Walsh (ET), Gearoid Hassett for Sean McDonnell (ET), Sean O’Leary for Jack Coyne (ET).

Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).