Sigerson 2008

[Zulu]

Stephen played well enough AZ, our backs were alright but from midfield up we really struggled. UL abandoned the running game that served them so well against St. Mary's in favour of a mish mash of kicking and short passing. Often it seemed the inside forward line was expecting the ball to be carried further but was then kicked in while they were still behind their markers. And while the players must shoulder much of the blame for the performance I thought the sideline made some poor personnel decisions. We didn't get any score from play and missed some howlers.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Wasn't far from Mickey Moran and he was very pissed off with Colm Cavanagh late on in normal time.

Didn't realise it was McCullagh in particular but I heard Micky Moran cursing a couple of Poly players including threatening to "take him f**king off" at one stage!

Exiled - Were you fit to hear the fella that was pissed off his face and kept shoting "over the bar" and generally made a fool of himself?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Disaster for UL. GMIT 0-11 UL 0-5. UL kicked 15 wides some of them absolute sitters, while GMIT had 10 wides but no real glaring misses that I can think of. I have to say it was a very poor match and UL totally under performed. I'll post more after i've had time to reflect!

GMIT are having a great year in both the hurling and football. Not sure they'll go any further in either though but you never know.

[ExiledGael]

Heard a few roars and then all around him laughing. Must have been a few on the beer early, some man was pissing down below everyone on the other pitch in front of everyone for donkeys, musta pissed litres. Probably the same boy.

Plenty of highlights there on UTV with Logie. Some great scores, McAllister's saves are even more impressive the second time, especially the one from O'Neill in the second half. That kept them in the game.

[hitzelsperger]

saw the drunken fella in question trying to run down the malone road, he was completely rubbered going from side to side, was sure he was going to run into the traffic at one stage. some sensible man baled him into a car and im sure he'll be happily asleep in renshaws as we speak...

p.s up the poly!

[GaryColemansLeftPeg]

Wasn't far from Mickey Moran and he was very pissed off with Colm Cavanagh late on in normal time.

Didn't realise it was McCullagh in particular but I heard Micky Moran cursing a couple of Poly players including threatening to "take him f**king off" at one stage!

Exiled - Were you fit to hear the fella that was pissed off his face and kept shoting "over the bar" and generally made a fool of himself?

The language on and off the field left a lot to be desired.  Whislt there was a lot at stake for both sides, banter was close to the bone at time.

The fella who was pissed was an eejit and was annoying all round him.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

Heard a few roars and then all around him laughing. Must have been a few on the beer early, some man was pissing down below everyone on the other pitch in front of everyone for donkeys, musta pissed litres. Probably the same boy.

Same boy surely, he wasn't too bad in the first half but once he'd finished off his 2 litres of "water" things took a turn for the worse! Great way of getting space for yourself at the fence, people were fairly edging away from him!

[GaryColemansLeftPeg]

The body odours from a few others caused people to edge away too

Students still don't wash, no change from my day.

[bennydorano]

Thought Queens did enough to win it in normal time, what was the Queen's N12 doing making a half arsed sliding tackle on his own 21 yard line in injury time     UUJ were pretty wasteful compared to Queens, especially in the first half, MF was a shambles, with James Colgan quite possibly the most overated footballer I have ever seen.  UUJ had more in the tank in extra time.

Thought Paul Courtney ran himself into the ground for Queens, Miceal O'Rourke was their best forward slighty disappointed with McComiskey, he could have done a lot more. O'Neill came into it in the second half after quite possibly not touching the ball in the first half at all.  Aodan Gallagher grafted as normal.  Queens N7 was good too.

For UUJ Andy Moran and Mark Lynch made the difference IMO, Moran being particularly impressive although he faded a bit near the end of normal time.  I thought Colm Cavanagh was played out of position at WHF, I would have had him on the square. UUJ seemed to adopt the Queens tactic of 2 nippy corner forwards in the FF line as oppossed to having a big man in there.

Overall I was disappointed with UUJ, I expected them to be a lot better, thought they did choke a bit and would have been out only for the Queens N12 suicide tackle at the end.   The absence of Vernon ultimately cost Queens as I've no doubt they would have won with him on.

[Zulu]

Any idea who won the DIT/ITT game?

[imtommygunn]

Out of interest - was Tomas McCann marking Justin Crozier?

[ExiledGael]

DIT won easily 0-14 to 0-4, don't think Tralee scored from play from what I heard. Vaughan, Kilcoyne and Cian Ward all scoring a couple of points.

[laoisgaa]

Ulster Bank Sigerson Cup
UUJ 1-17
Queen's University, Belfast 0-16
(After Extra-time)
By Cóilín Duffy
At The Dub

Second half substitute, Antrim Senior player Paddy Cunningham was the influential figure kicking four points, including a 61st minute point, which forced extra-time, as UUJ took a hard-earned four points win over Queen's University in the Ulster Bank Sigerson Cup Quarter-Finals yesterday.

These close rivals produced a rapid fire encounter that kept the 1000 strong attendance at The Dub, Belfast engrossed throughout, as UUJ knocked the reigning champions out of the competition – with their first victory over QUB since 2003.

The hosts looked like breaking the mould in normal time as a sixth point of the day from Paul McComiskey gave Queen's the lead with nine minutes remaining.

Although Aidan O'Rourke's charges withstood tremendous pressure in the closing ten minutes, they battled bravely, but couldn't prevent a Cunningham equaliser a minute into injury time.
Nothing could separate the sides in the opening stages of this game and the teams were level on four occasions inside the opening 21 minutes.

A 22nd minute Thomas McCann goal helped UUJ break clear and they maintained a strong attacking presence until the interval, with the Antrim player finding the back of the net after a well placed pass from Down's James McGovern.

Having kicked eight first half wides, UUJ just about deserved their slender 1-5 to 0-7 interval lead, but with plenty of possession they could afford some missed opportunities.

Queen's dominated the third quarter as they broke into a two point advantage by the 44th minute, for the first time in the game.

Goalkeeper Fergal Murphy was on target with a well placed 45' while Down's Paul McComiskey and Sean O'Neill of Tyrone also kicked excellent scores.

Cunningham was a strong presence for UUJ and kicked three second half points, including the equaliser in the 61st minute, which forced
extra-time.

UUJ always held the edge in extra-time and held a 1-14 to 0-15 interval lead, with Tyrone trio, Ciaran and Peter Donnelly and Raymond Mulgrew; and Derry's Mark Lynch on target; with Paul McComiskey and Justin Crozier scoring for Queen's.

Cunningham paved the way to victory with his fourth point of the game on the restart and although Sean O'Neill cut the gap, scores from Lynch and Cunningham ensured a UUJ win.

UUJ joint manager Adrian McGuckian although happy with the manner of his sides win, felt it didn't compensate for the loss of last year's
thrilling final to Queen's at the same venue.

"It was good to win but it doesn't make up for the disappointment of losing last year," he said.

McGuckian expects  nothing will be easy in a semi-final against DIT.

"It's a hard route, we have DIT now in the semi-final and it doesn't get any easier. All colleges have good players, these guys are just ordinary players.

"The boys at that age are all playing inter-county and there will be ten inter-county players in every Sigerson Cup team you play against and they will be no different. It's just great to get this game over with.

Scorers for UUJ: M Lynch (2f) 0-5; P Cunningham (4f) 0-4; T McCann 1-0; A Moran 0-3; R Mulgrew 0-2; K Lacey, C Donnelly, P Donnelly 0-1
each. Scorers for QUB: P McComiskey (4f, 1SL) 0-7; S O'Neill 0-3; D O'Neill, J Ireland, P Courtney, M O'Rourke, F Murphy (45), J Crozier 0-1 each.

UUJ: M McAlister (Down); C Harrison (Sligo), D McCaul (Tyrone), D Morgan (Monaghan); P McGuigan (Monaghan), K Lacey (Donegal), D Hughes (Monaghan); P Donnelly (Tyrone), J Colgan (Down); J McGovern (Down), R Mulgrew (Tyrone), T McCann (Antrim); M Lynch (Derry), C Cavanagh (Tyrone), A Moran (Mayo). Subs: C Murney (Down) for McGuigan (36); B McKenna (Monaghan) for Hughes (45); P Cunningham (Antrim) for Colgan (39); C Donnelly (Tyrone) for Harrison (53)

QUB: F Murphy (Fermanagh); N Bogue (Fermanagh), L Howard (Down), H Gallagher (Tyrone); D O'Neill (Tyrone), J O'Kane (Derry), J Crozier (Antrim); J Ireland (Down), P Courtney (Armagh); A Gallagher (Antrim), J Loughrey (Antrim), C McGinn (Down); P McComiskey (Down), S O'Neill (Tyrone), M O'Rourke (Armagh). Subs: M Ward (Tyrone) for Loughrey
(36); S Burke (Antrim) for Ireland (45); J Reilly (Fermanagh) for McGinn (69); B Martin (Down) for D O'Neill (74).

REFEREE: Pat McEnaney (Monaghan)

DIT 0-14
IT Tralee 0-4
UUJ will face DIT in the semi-finals of the Ulster Bank Sigerson Cup after the Dublin outfit romped to a 0-14 to 0-4 against IT Tralee in Tralee yesterday.

The long journey to the Kingdom may have accounted for the visitors sluggish start, but once Tadhg Condon's charges upped their game there was no doubting who the eventual winners would be.

Paddy Curran helped the hosts to an early 0-2 to 0-1 advantage with two early pointed frees while Mayo's Aidan Kilcoyne was on target for the visitors.

The hosts relied heavily on Curran's accuracy from placed balls to keep them in touch, with the former All-Ireland winning Minor scoring three of his sides four points.

DIT ran rampant and with the likes of Kilcoyne, Dublin Senior Mark Vaughan and Meath duo Cian Ward and Brian Ennis upfront, firmly on song – the visitors slotted over five points without reply and were fully deserving of their 0-6 to 0-2 interval advantage.

Despite this, IT Tralee were unlucky not to be closer at the break, when Curran had a goal chance before the interval but was met with some strong resilience by an impressive DIT defence.

However DIT always held that extra edge  and points from Kilcoyne (0-3), Vaughan (0-2) and Cian Ward ensuring the visitors held a 0-12 to 0-3 lead as the game entered the final quarter, with another Curran free, opening IT Tralee's second half account.

The final quarter was simply academic for the hosts, who lorded possession and didn't need to get into top gear, having firmly booked a semi-final spot.


GMIT 0-11
UL 0-5

UL failed to score from play and could manage only a single second half point as GMIT had a deserved win in a sub standard Sigerson Cup quarter final at Limerick Gaelic Grounds.

A total of 25 wides-ten of them by UL-and several yellow cards made it a stop-go affair and GMIT will need improvement next day out.

Playing against the breeze in the first half GMIT still managed to be 0-6 to 0-4 in front at the interval after UL had the opening point from a '45' by David Moran, whose father Ogie won eight All Ireland medals with Kerry.

Once GMIT went in front twelve minutes before the interval they were never headed but it was only when they led by a four point margin that they picked off their best scores, well taken points by substitute Aidan Campbell and the outstanding Paul Conroy.

GMIT had excellent players in Donal Vaughan, Sean Ryder and Niall Darby in defence, James Kilcullen and Kieran Conroy dominated midfield and Paul Conroy was pick up front with two points from play and two from frees.

Moran tried hard for UL and was unlucky to have hit a post in the final seconds but it was an overall poor display by the Limerick side whose only player to hit form was Enda Varley.

[clarshack]

how can peter donnelly still be a student? he seems to be another jimmy mcguinness.

[Uladh]

Dissapointed to have missed this one as it sounded like a real cracker. when the text came through that the uni were 2 up with only minutes left i thought they'd pulled it off again. my reporter felt that once it got to extra time queens had nothing left and McEnaney gave the poly every chance to get there