Why the Sigerson is Special..
There are four Round 1 games taking place this afternoon in the Sigerson Cup, with the winners advancing to next week's quarter-finals.
Tuesday, February 2
Sigerson Cup Round 1 Fixtures**
***University of Limerick v IT Tralee, UL Grounds, 2pm
Ulster University, Jordanstown v Garda College, Jordanstown, 2pm
UCC v GMIT, The Mardyke, 2.30pm
St Mary's v DIT, Garvaghy 4G, Tyrone Centre of Excellence, 3pm
University of Limerick v IT Tralee, UL Grounds, 2pm
Fitzgibbon Cup champions UL have been more associated with hurling success at inter-varsity level in recent seasons, but expectations are high for the footballers on Shannonside this season.
Corofin and Galway forward Ian Burke heads up a talented squad which includes established senior inter-county talent such as Gearoid Hegarty (Limerick), Ruairi Deane, Colm O'Driscoll (both Cork) and Niall McDermott (Cavan). The college also has a number of talented young Kerry footballers in their ranks, such as Eamonn Kiely (Brosna), Cathal Long (An Ghaeltacht) and Denis Daly (St Mary's
UL have never actually won the Sigerson Cup, whereas their opponents in Round 1 on Tuesday, IT Tralee, have considerable history in the competition, having famously won a three-in-a-row in the competition from 1997-99
The college don't currently have the kind of stellar names available to them that they once had, but with a large number of Kerry players in their squad (all but nine of their panel are from the Kingdom) there is no shortage of quality. Conor Keane (Legion) and Shane Carroll (Austin Stacks) are two of whom much can be expected.
**
Ulster University, Jordanstown v Garda College, Jordanstown, 2pm
Garda College's impressive 1-13 to 0-8 victory over CIT in the Sigerson preliminary round last week was something of an upset and the result has earned the Templemore side a shot at reaching the quarter-finals.
Inspired by Justin Blake (Galway), Colin Compton (Roscommon), Paul Smith (Cavan) and the celebrated Carlow star Brendan Murphy, last year's Trench Cup winners continued their impressive rise with the victory over CIT and will fancy themselves against a star-studded Jordanstown side
The Ulster University side have been tipped to make a breakthrough at this level for a number of years and given the depth of quality to be found in their panel year after year, it's easy to see why many are expecting big things of the 2014 runners-up.
Their list of senior county stars is impressive, to put it mildly. Rory Beggan, Kieran Hughes, Ryan McAnespie (all Monaghan), Ronan McNamee, Rory Brennan, Richard Donnelly, Conan Grugan (all Tyrone), Killian Clarke, Michael Argue (both Cavan), Ryan McHugh, Patrick McBrearty (both Donegal), Niall Madine (Down), Gareth McKinless (Derry), Niall McKeever (Antrim) and Ethan Rafferty (Armagh) make up an astonishingly rich list of talent.
Throw into the mix Dublin's 2011 All-Ireland hero Kevin Nolan (studying for a Masters at the college) and Mayo forward Evan Regan, and we are surely looking at one of the favourites. However, history tells us that legions of big names do not guarantee Sigerson Cup success. Back in 2014, Maynooth University and Jordanstown entered the competition with formidable squads, but in the end it was a relatively unheralded UCC side that went away with the trophy.
**
Sean Kiely of UCC
UCC v GMIT, The Mardyke, 2.30pm
GMIT gave evidence of their considerable pluck last season when they reached the quarter-finals, and their stunning victory over Sligo last month in the Connacht FBD League showed they mean business in 2016
They eased past St Pat's, Drumcondra in the preliminary round last week, nullifying the considerable threat of Ciarán Kilkenny and progressing on a 1-12 to 0-9 scoreline. Damien Brennan hit 1-6 in that win, whie Joe Donnellan and Andy Glennon also impressed. A key man for GMIT is Martin Farragher, an All-Ireland club winning forward with Corofin
Facing UCC at the Mardyke is a huge challenge though, and 21-time champions UCC, who last won the competition in 2014, look well placed to reach finals weekend again this season.
UCC are often heavily reliant on Cork and Kerry players and generally don't have the instantly recognisable national names that jump off many other teamsheets in the Sigerson. To read anything into that would be foolish though, for they have an extremely well-balanced and high quality squad.
Cork footballers Brian O'Driscoll, Luke Connolly, Ian Maguire, Seán Kiely and Conor Horgan will all be key, but the loss of Conor Dorman to an ankle injury - he will miss the entire competition as a result of surgery - is a blow. Other players key to the UCC cause in 2016 are highly rated Kerry youngsters Jordan Kiely and Conor Cox.
**
St Mary's v DIT, Garvaghy 4G, Tyrone Centre of Excellence, 3pm- (Note change of venue)*
This game was originally fixed for Galbally but was switched to Garvaghey due to an unplayable pitch.
St Mary's have struggled to make an impact in the Sigerson Cup over the years, but their win over an understrength Donegal side last month in the McKenna Cup suggested they may be able to make a deeper impression this season. They have considerable talent available to them in 2016, with Ronan O'Neill, Conor Myler, Kieran McGeary (Tyrone), Barry O'Hagan, Jerome Johnston, Ryan Johnston and Kevin McKernan (all Down) in their ranks, as well as a healthy sprinkling of talent from other counties across Ulster.
DIT, Sigerson Cup champions in 2013, were stunned by GMIT last season in Round 1 and will be eager to avoid a similar upset in Ulster this afternoon. With one of the largest student bodies in the country, the Grangegorman outfit are more than capable of reaching finals weekend and the quality of their squad suggests that is the minimum requirement in 2016.
Lee Chin (Wexford), Ryan Connolly (Cavan), Conor Grimes (Louth), Graham Guilfoyle (Offaly), Liam Irwin (Mayo) and Bryan McMahon (Meath) are all present within the DIT ranks while the college are backboned by a number of Dublin stars such as Emmet Ó Conghaile, Kevin O'Brien and Darragh Nelson.
