DCU 2-11

St. Mary's, Belfast 1-9

Goals in either half from Wicklow's Conor McGraynor proved decisive as DCU trumped St. Mary's, Belfast in last night's Ryan Cup final at the Athletic Grounds.

The towering full forward fisted home the opening goal after just six minutes to give Niall Moyna's charges the perfect start. The Ranch - seeking their first title since 1985 - hit back with points from Down brothers Ryan and Jerome Johnston and Barry O'Hagan, but the Dublin outfit held a slender 1-4 to 0-6 lead at the break thanks to scores from Colm Begley and Conor McHugh.

St. Mary's hit the front within a minute of the restart when Jerome Johnston netted, but DCU responded with a flurry of points before McGraynor's second goal in the 48th minute settled it.

The Belfast boys finished the game with 14 players after Peter Carragher was shown a red card in the dying stages.

Scorers - DCU: C McGraynor 2-2, C McHugh 0-4 (4f), E O'Connor, C Begley 0-2 each, C Daly 0-1. St Mary's: J Johnston 1-2, B O'Hagan 0-3, K McCooey, C McCann, C Gallagher, R Johnston 0-1 each.

DCU - B Flynn; J Smith, D Wrynn, C Begley; J Bealin, D Byrne, C Daly; T Flynn, S O'Brien; E O'Connor, D Smith, E Smith; C McHugh, C McGraynor, R Connor. Subs: D Ward for Bealin, C Meredith for O'Brien (both half-time), C McNally for McHugh 52, S McCoy for McGraynor 59. Yellow cards: Byrne 28, Flynn 41.

St Mary's - J Deeny; A Beattie, B Og McGilligan, D Morrow; K McKernan, N McNicholl, K McCooey; P Carragher, C McCann; P McBride, K McGeary, R Johnston; J Johnston, M Fitzpatrick, B O'Hagan. Subs: C Gallagher for Morrow (32 mins), H Loughran for McBride 40, R Quinn for O'Hagan 47, A Nugent for McNicholl 48, J Grugan for Fitzpatrick 56. Yellow cards: McCann 20, j Johnston 57, Carragher 58. Red card: Carragher 60.

Ref - Padraig Hughes (Armagh).

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