UL 0-14 DCU 0-11
Not for the first time, David Clifford was the name on everyone’s lips as UL secured a rare Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final place thanks to the Kerry icon’s sorcery.
Tied at 0-11 apiece with six minutes remaining at Netwatch Cullen Park, Clifford stepped up with two late points to help secure UL’s return to nearby IT Carlow for next Wednesday’s final.
UL reeled off three unanswered points in total late on with Clare’s Emmet McMahon also on the mark in a gutsy finale.
Clifford was tightly marked for the most part by Kildare’s Shea Ryan though did raise a smile after finally scoring from play approaching half-time and that score from distance left UL 0-7 to 0-6 ahead.
UL took off with three unanswered points in the third quarter, two of those from Brian Lonergan, but DCU responded with their own three-in-a-row to level the game at 0-10 apiece - requiring Clifford’s late interventions which secured their first final place since 1997.
UL: C Flaherty; C Donnelly, J Coyne, P Maher; G O'Donovan, S Powter, D Walsh; C Dempsey (0-1), O Looney; C Downes, D Gray (0-1), E McMahon (0-1); B Lonergan (0-3), D Clifford (0-4, 1f 1 45), D O'Sullivan (0-3, 1f).
Subs: J McCarthy for Donnelly (8-13 mins, blood), F Flanagan for Looney (27 mins), P Walsh (0-1) for McMahon (46 mins), McCarthy for Coyne (53 mins), McMahon for Gray (54 mins), S McDonnell for O'Sullivan (64 mins).
DCU: D O'Hanlon; D Corcoran, S Ryan, M Curran; S Byrne, J Morrissey (0-1), L Towey; M Costello, R Og Murphy; P Hughes (0-1), K Lynch Bissett, B Carroll (0-1); M Barry, R Finnerty (0-3, 3f), J Hagan.
Subs: S Tierney (0-3, 1m) for Hagan (22 mins), S O'Donnell (0-2) for Barry (23 mins), J Bryant for Lynch Bissett (40 mins), Hagan for Byrne (57 mins).
Ref: M Deegan (Laois).
