THE agonisingly tight margin between success and failure was reduced to a late passion play at Belfield in yesterday's Sigerson Cup first-round match.
In the third minute added on by Pat McEnaney, by this stage more a time lord than merely a referee, UCD's Ciaran McManus hoisted over a point that took this splendid encounter into extra time from which the holders were to emerge with title intact.
In the seconds that had preceded the score, UCG's defence had met the frenzied attacks of the home team with equally desperate defence and three times blocked kicks for an attempted equaliser. They didn't quite hold out and there were few prizes on offer for correct predictions of how the remaining half-hour would go.
So the margin between success and failure ended up encompassing an excellent workout for the holders instead of a magnificent ambush by the Galway team. It also authenticates UCD's credentials for this year's competition.
The consensus afterwards was that whereas UCD's most influential players had inexorably improved and delivered when the hammer came down, UCG's had faded.
It was, however, a very close-run thing. In a first half where a strong breeze was far from the only influence, UCG had dominated proceedings and would have been out of sight by half-time but for well taken goals from Maurice Horan and Derek Savage which, were the main scores in UCD's interval total of 2-1.
UCG's 2-7 included a smartly dispatched penalty by Colm Considine and a scrambled goal by Laois's Declan Rooney. It was no more than they deserved.
Conor McGauran had been thriving at centre field and contributing on the scoreboard. The defence was tight with central influences Liam Moffatt and Gordon Morley in particular command, and the only question mark was over the litany of inaccurate finishing. This gave up interim figures of 11 wides against one for UCD - a statistic as reflective as the score of the run of, play.
Trevor Giles was just back after suspension and was as laboured as he's ever been seen, certainly in Sigerson terms. Ominously for the teams awaiting UCD, the Footballer of the Year became more influential as the match progressed and with his centrefield partner McManus, contrived the afternoon's pivotal moment.
Galway had maintained their grip on the match and extended their lead to four points, 2-9 to 2-2, when Giles, now at centre back, seized on a ball and projected a long pass into McManus's path. The Offalyman steamed on to the ball and when in range, blazed a spectacular goal.
The match changed direction and further UCD scores followed but UCG appeared to have stemmed the flow and maintained the margin at two points with a minute of normal time elapsing. Giles got up for the first instalment in the 59th minute before McManus tied up.
McManus, Savaie and the increasingly impressive Alan Nolan at centre forward struck in the first half of extra time to push the holders in front and despite regular scoring exchanges, the westerners never closed the gap.
