Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup round three Maynooth University 2-9 St Mary’s University College 1-7
A STRONG defensive showing from St Mary’s in the second half wasn’t enough to undo the damage that was done by a dismal opening 30 minutes in Maynooth last night.
The Belfast side fell seven points behind and were reduced to 14 men due to an off-the-ball incident which saw Seánie O’Donnell dismissed.
After putting ATU Donegal to the sword last time out, Maynooth University carried plenty of momentum into this tie and it showed in the early exchanges, as they responded to the concession of the first point of the game with some fast and slick attacking play.
Luke Crowley rattled the net in the sixth minute with a thunderous drive, Eoghan Frayne and Harry Plunkett kicked some excellent points and the pressure only mounted further after the clash between O’Donnell and Brian O’Halloran left the Maynooth corner-back lying on the turf.
Daniel Scahill blasted the ball over the bar with the net at his mercy and St Mary’s made no headway up front whatsoever, only adding a second Niall McKenna free and a wondrous Niall Burns strike from the left sideline.
Adrift by 1-7 to 0-3 at half-time, it looked like Maynooth would win as they like, but instead they struggled to get off the ground in the second half and some dogged work by St Mary’s in the trenches meant that they completely suffocated their opponents, restricting them to just five total shots in the regulation 30 minutes.
Just one of those, a 35-metre shot from Meath forward Eoghan Frayne, raised a flag. Meanwhile, St Mary’s, while still struggling to break through a strong Maynooth backline, gradually chipped away at the lead. Burns and Seán Rock kicked excellent points over a packed defence and when McKenna slotted home a penalty with just one minute of normal time to play, there was just a single point between the sides.
Maynooth, who lost their first-round tie to TUS Midlands after conceding the last four points of the hour to give up a winning position, weren’t about to be caught a second time. They rediscovered their vigour and mounted two brisk attacks, yielding a pointed free and a James Harris goal to clinch their passage to the last eight.
Maynooth E Sheehan; B O’Halloran, D Scahill (0-1), T McPhillips; J Harris (1-0), T Moran, S O’Hare; C Gray (0-1), C Duke; P McDermott (0-1), E Frayne (0-5, 0-3f), S Emmanuel; L Crowley (1-0), H Plunkett (0-1), K McArdle
Subs R Burke for Moran (42), G O’Meara for Crowley (45), R Teahan for Emmanuel (54).
Yellow cards O’Halloran (17), Crowley (38), Frayne (38)
Black cards Duke (45)
St Mary’s S Magill; J Donnelly, F Murdock, M Hynes; S Quigley, D Loye, D Haigney; D Treanor, F O’Brien; D Mooney (0-1), S Rock (0-2, 0-1f), N Burns (0-2); C Lagan, N McKenna (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-2f), S O’Donnell.
Subs C Reavey for Haigney (35), C Walsh for Lagan (52), Lagan for Hynes (58).
Yellow cards Rock (1), McKenna (20)
Red cards O’Donnell (17)
Referee A Coyne (Westmeath)
