Alan Freeman's extra-time penalty proved decisive as DIT sent Carlow IT crashing out of the Irish Daily Mail Sigerson Cup at the first hurdle at the O'Toole's grounds in Coolock yesterday.

DIT 1-14
Carlow IT 0-11
(After extra-time)

In what was a close contest throughout, DIT drew first blood with scores from Harry Dawson, David Hughes and Gearoid McKiernan before Carlow - who were controversially denied a place in the recent O'Byrne Cup - replied through Conor Boyle and Gerry Seaver. An injury-time free from Ben Brosnan saw the visitors go into the break leading 0-5 to 0-4.

Dublin U21 Seaver and Brosnan extended Carlow's lead to three points on the restart, but inspired by Cavan's McKiernan, CIT battled back to force extra-time. The game's turning point came in the first period of extra-time when Eoin Reilly was taken down for a penalty, and Freeman converted at the second attempt after his initial effort was saved by Tom Hughes.

That left DIT 1-11 to 0-10 in front at the turnaround and the Mayo star added two late points to seal a flattering six-point win.

Scorers - DIT: A Freeman 1-6 (5f), G McKiernan 0-3, D Hughes 0-2, H Dawson, B Allen(1f), P Sharry 0-1 each. Carlow IT: B Brosnan 0-4 (3f, 1 '45'), G Seaver, D Mulhall (1f) 0-2, C Boyle, P Fogarty, B Hurley 0-1 each

DIT - A O'Mara; J Gill, A McLoughlin, R Tierney; D Hughes, B Menton, E Reilly; A O'Shea, G McKiernan; P Sharry , T Parsons, H Dawson; B Allen , A Freeman, J McGrath. Subs: P Maguire for McGrath (h-t), P Cunningham for Tierney (32), D Shatwell for Gill (37), P Schutte for Dawson (56), P O'Connor for O'Shea (77), R Hazely for Parsons (79).

Carlow IT - T Hughes; A Nolan, C Lawlor, J Kinnehan; P Brogan, C Boyle, D Hayden; K Meaney, B Quigley; D Foley, G Seaver, S Gannon; C Rogers, P Fogarty , B Brosnan. Subs: B Hurley for Rogers (42), D Mulhall for Seaver (42), D Carroll for Sherry (61), G Holmes for Nolan (61), Seaver for Brogan (70), Rogers for Carroll (79).

Ref - V Neary (Mayo) Tweet

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