It was a largely forgettable matchday for the northern colleges as the second round of the Sigerson Cup took place.
Only Ulster University came out of the second round of matches with a win as Queens, St Mary’s and ATU Donegal all fell to losses in their games.
Reigning champions University of Ulster edged out University of Limerick 1-10 to 1-9 with Tyrone’s Conor Cush hitting 1-4 in Abbotstown to send UU through to the quarter-final.
Queen’s University were dumped out of the Sigerson Cup on a sour note as they were on the receiving end of a 23-point hammering from University of Galway in Templeport in Cavan as the 2023 champions hit 4-15 to the Belfast side’s four points.
St Mary’s College, Belfast, left it too little too late and will have to take the playoff route if they want to make the last eight after they were beaten by TU Dublin.
Callum Lagan opened the scoring for them within a minute before a flurry of scores from TU gave them a four-point lead after 11 minutes.
Niall McKenna’s penalty a few minutes later pulled it back for the Ranch but the Dubliners cancelled that out with a spot-kick of their own.
Despite Sean Rock’s goal just before half-time, St Mary’s went into the break five points down.
The Ranch kept the pressure on, matching TU Dublin point-for-point after the break, however, the lead had crept up to six points by the 10-minute mark.
Emyvale’s McKenna tried to keep his college’s hand in down the stretch, kicking 1-2 in the last 12 minutes but it proved a few points too far for the boys from the Falls Road.
In the Dublin derby, it was UCD that came out on top at Belfield, with the Southsiders needing a late point from captain Darragh Cregg to book their place in the next round.
It was Cregg who got the game’s scoring underway in the sixth minute with a free from a similar position to his last score to win it.
Conor Dolan got the game’s first score from play after 11 minutes for DCU.
The first half was a low-scoring affair with DCU leading the game six points to three at the break but the second half saw both sides settle into the game.
The city rivals went score for score in the first 10 minutes of the second half but the game caught fire when fullback Theo Clancy of Kilmacud Crokes fired high into the goal to put his side level.
A stroke of fortune then fell the gold and navy of DCU when a short rebounded off the post and dropped for Marren, who tapped in to restore the three-point lead for the north Dublin school.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, UCD goalkeeper Cillian Roche came up from the back and knocked over the score of the game to put a point between the sides.
Cregg then knocked over two free sandwiched in between a score by Murren to win the game for last year’s beaten Sigerson Cup finalists.
Maynooth steamrolled ATU Donegal on their way to a 5-20 to 0-5 points win in Kildare to book their place in the last-eight.
TUS Midlands won out against MTU Cork by two points with a 0-17 to 1-12 scoreline.
ATU Sligo knocked out their sister school ATU Galway by a point. The game finished 1-14 to 1-13.
