University of Ulster and UCD both came through their Sigerson Cup semi-final ties against Maynooth University and UL last night, but the two underdog colleges both came agonisingly close to pulling off upset victories, hanging in contention for the vast majority of the hour before eventually falling just short.
UCD and UL were first into action at SETU Carlow and UL got out to the ideal start when UCD goalkeeper Killian Roche failed to handle a high, hanging delivery and Paul Kearney was on hand to force the ball over the line.
A fine score from Darragh Cashman pushed the lead out to five points, but six UCD scores on the spin, the pick of them from the Meath duo of Aaron Lynch and Diarmuid Moriarty, edged John Divilly’s troops into a one-point half-time lead.
Jonathan Lynam squeezed the ball into the UL net from a tight angle in the first minute after half-time and when Moriarty and Garland followed up with two of the next three scores, UCD looked like they might win with a bit to spare.
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UL rallied brilliantly, however, and two points each from Frank Irwin and Ciarán Downes reduced the lead back to the bare minimum. David Garland’s goal rocked the Munster College back on their heels again but once more they rallied only to fall short by the bare minimum, 2-12 to 1-14, with UL having had shouts for a penalty waved away in the closing stages.
Dreadful conditions in Inniskeen ensured a much higher error count in the game between University of Ulster and Maynooth, at least in the second half when the pitch started to visibly cut up.
University of Ulster made the stronger start to lead by 0-3 to 0-1, but a magical six minute spell saw Kevin O’Sullivan, Rúairí Kinsella, Luke Killian, Shane O’Sullivan and Eoghan Frayne all register points from play for Maynooth.
Their good work was undone by a goal from Niall Loughlin and a brace of frees, but UU couldn’t shake off their opponents throughout a physical and scrappy second half. Maynooth enjoyed plenty of possession in the final quarter but struggled to break down the massed UU defence, and some wonderful scores by Charlie Diamond and Oisín McCann forced them to chase goals.
This allowed Danny Fullerton and Eamon Brown to kick stoppage time points on the break, leaving a deceptively big 1-13 to 0-11 gap on the scoreboard at the final whistle.
