Gaelic Games

Queen’s finally get back to winning ways

Mallon to the fore as Belfast university see off UL

Harry Óg Conlon of Queen’s jumps with UL Eoin Carroll in their Sigerson Cup preliminary round game in Belfast. Photograph: William Cherry/Inpho.
Wed Jan 29 2014 - 01:00

Queen's University 0-13
University of Limerick 0-11


Queen's University won their first Sigerson Cup match since 2008 yesterday, beating UL in Belfast by two points.

The Limerick visitors led by 0-2 to 0-1 early in the game after Kerry forward James O’Donoghue scored the first of his four points.

Queen’s reeled off the next four points in a row, however, and managed to stay ahead for almost the entire game.

Donegal’s All-Ireland winner Martin McElhinney dispossessed his marker and scored the first of Queen’s four unanswered points while Ryan Rafferty got two points in two minutes as they raced into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead after 19 minutes.

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Although they were chasing the game for long spells, UL hung in and had their best spell either side of half-time.

JP Spillane and David Dolan both scored from play to reduce the deficit at half-time to 0-6 to 0-5.

Rory Grugan stretched Queen’s lead 20 seconds after the restart but UL briefly drew level at 0-7 apiece in the 37th minute through Shane O’Callaghan’s point.

Queen’s went on another four-point scoring burst, with Darren O’Hanlon, Ryan Murray, Ryan Jones and the impressive Ryan Mallon all on the scoresheet.

UL showed great persistence and despite dropping a few shots short, a O’Donoghue brace and a fine score by Denis Daly brought them to within a point again.

Mallon was the most influential player in the closing stages and helped Queen's through to next week's home tie against GMIT.


QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY: M Cunningham; P Quinn (0-1), C Cullen, C McNulty; R Mallon (0-2), D O'Hanlon (0-1), C McCartan (0-1); M McElhinney (0-1), H Og Conlan; C Maginn, R Grugan (0-2), R Jones (0-1); G Collins, N McKenna, R Rafferty (0-2) Subs: R Murray (0-2) for Collins (half-time), S McArdle for Jones (48 mins), R McGarry for Rafferty (50 mins), R Jones for Conlan (60 mins).
UL: R Byrne; E Kiely, T Clancy, B Harrison; D Dolan (0-1), J O'Rourke, L Mulligan; P McHugh, C McNamee; JP Spillane (0-1), D Daly (0-1), E Carroll; S O'Callaghan (0-1), J O'Donoghue (0-4, 2f), B O'Shea (0-3, frees).
Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry).