There were wins for UCD and Garda College in the opening round of the Sigerson Cup this afternoon.

In Belfield, hosts UCD struck three second-half goals to down Cork IT on a 5-8 to 0-10 score-line after the southern students had fashioned an unlikely two-point lead at the half.

It had been all CIT early on as they moved into a 0-7 to 0-1 lead inside the opening 17 minutes before Monaghan's Conor McCarthy struck for two goals in the space of six minutes that saw the margin trimmed down to two (0-10 to 2-2) come the break.

The visitors had midfielder Paul Walsh sent off on a second caution for a foul on Con O'Callaghan just before half-time and within three minutes of the restart UCD were in front as the Dublin ace swung over to make it 2-5 to 0-10.

CIT couldn’t come up with an accurate response (in fact they stayed scoreless for the second-half's entirety), as their capital counterparts took complete control with back-to-back goals from Kerry’s Fiachra Clifford and Evan O’Carroll of Laois.

O’Callaghan hit goal number five with 10 minutes left to go as John Divilly's charges pulled up winning in this one after their shaky opening start on home turf.

In Templemore, 14-man Garda College were 1-15 to 1-10 winners over IT Sligo after what had been a largely close encounter at the Garda GAA Grounds.

The hosts went in leading by the minimum at half-time (0-7 to 0-6) before a superb Dean McGovern point levelled matters for IT Sligo early in the second-half.

A goal from Donegal star Jamie Brennan had the three-time champions in front momentarily but their opponents rallied late on and bagged a major of their own from Ronan Carolan to ensure the five-point victory in Round One.

UCD - T O’Brien; M Dempsey, B Byrne, M O’Connor; C O’Connor, C Meyler, C O’Shea; D Gavin, S Coen; C Hartley, C McCarthy (2-0), C O’Callaghan (1-1); F Clifford (1-1), E O’Carroll (1-3, 0-1f), B McGinn (0-2). Subs: L Silke (0-1) for C Hartley, F Connolly for B Byrne, D Kennedy for C Meyler, C Crowley for E O’Carroll, C Moriarty for F Clifford, N O’Callaghan for C O’Callaghan.

Cork IT - C Kelly; M Lordan, A Browne, C O’Donoghue (0-1); N O’Donoghue, E Lavers, B Sugrue; P Walsh, R Walsh; K O’Donovan (0-3), D Dineen (0-4), G O’Brien; M Buckley (0-1), J Crean, M Bradley (0-1). Subs: B Hyland for M Bradley, S Howard for R Walsh, B Hodnett for M Buckley, D O’Sullivan for J Crean.

Referee - S Mulhare.

**

Garda College - P Shaw; R O’Connor, S Nerney, K Histon; K Cawley (0-1), P Varley (0-1), C Russell; T Mullins, T Clarke; D Masterson (0-5), C Duggan, G Rogers; P Mannion (0-1f), J Ryan (0-3), D Meehan (0-4, 3f). Subs: A Masterson for T Mullins, R Carolan (1-0) for G Rogers, G Casey for D Masterson, K Doherty for T Clarke.

IT Sligo - P O’Malley (0-1f); E McGrath, C Reape, J Haran; S McGrath, C McDonagh, N Boyle (0-1); D McGovern, J Bermingham; J O’Reilly, J Brennan (1-4, 1-0pen, 0-2f), A McLean; S Carrabine (0-2), K McBrearty (0-1), K Cawley. Subs: T Govorov (0-1) for C McDonagh, C Hennelly for S McGrath.

Referee - J Hickey.

Tweet

Most Read Stories