University of Galway were dumped out by University of Limerick as the Wolves hunted down the 2022 Sigerson Cup winners at UL Grounds, winning with a score of 3-8 to 14 points.
DCU and MTU Kerry also progressed to the quarter-final stage of the competition after wins over ATU Sligo and MTU Cork.
Mayo’s Ciaran McHale starred for UL, scoring 1-3 for his side as they broke away in the second half to secure the win against the 23-time champions in what was a re-run of the 2022 final.
At the halfway mark, the scores stood level at 1-2 to five points, Galway were then three points to the good by the fourth quarter, with a UL penalty from Cian O’Grady tying things up for the final 15 minutes.
In the end, UL booked their place in the last eight, with McHale and O’Grady’s goals proving to be the difference between the two sides.
DCU also prevailed on Tuesday night, running out 19-point winners over ATU Sligo with Conor Dolan raising the green flag twice.
ATU Sligo, who lost in the first round to holders Ulster University, salvaged a third-round spot by overcoming ATU Galway last week.
However, the Sligo school were well on their way to another loss by halftime, with the north Dublin University leading 1-9 to just two points by then.
DCU’s captain Ciaran Caulfield, who is one to watch in the Meath panel this inter-county season, was causing havoc in the ATU Sligo defence and their first-half was epitomised by the opening goal from Dolan.
A high-arching ball was fumbled into the goal to make it 1-5 to a single score before Ryan Donohue’s magnificent 18th-minute score showed again the gulf in performances.
The Yeats County then started to pull the game back, scoring four of the first five points, Emmanuel Sehu of Cavan getting two of them.
Despite a decent fight from ATU, the result was put beyond doubt when Dolan got his second goal.
Eoghan Smith added a third goal for DCU in stoppage time after coming on as a sub having been played in by Sligo’s Luke Marren.
MTU Kerry took another Cork school’s scalp in the shape of MTU Cork this evening with Darragh O’Connor striking 2-3 for the Tralee campus.
Keith Evans weighed in with 1-2 while Waterford’s Alan Dunwoody struck 2-5 for the Rebel hosts who bowed out of the competition after back-to-back defeats.
St Mary’s College University, Belfast take on Maynooth Uni tomorrow (Wednesday) night, fighting to stay in the tournament after losing to TUD in the last round.
The four Round 2A winners - UCD, holders Ulster University, TU Dublin and TUS Midlands - are already through to the last eight.
Full Sigerson Cup third-round results:
DCU 3-14 ATU SLIGO 0-10
MTU KERRY 4-11 MTU CORK 2-10
UL 3-8 UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY 0-14
