Ulster University 3-12 UCD 0-15
Three goals in the first half was good enough to deliver a sixth Sigerson Cup title for Ulster University – against a UCD team that failed – or wasn’t allowed – to live up to its pre-game favourites tag in Tralee.
That hat-trick of green flags helped Ulster University to a nine-point half time lead, 3-06 to 0-06, and they never really looked in danger of being caught after that, despite a decent rally by UCD that yielded six unanswered points after the break.
When the teams met in round two of the competition in January the Dublin side had an eight-point win in Belfield, though whether that fed into any sort of complacency in the final is doubtful. Truth is, Ulster University blitzed them for those three goals and never looked back from there.
Darragh Canavan opened the scoring for Ulster University in the second minute, and by game end the Errigal Ciaran club man, along with his brother Ruairi, would account for nine of their team’s points.
Daire Cregg got UCD off the mark with two early points, but then Ulster University went on a scoring rampage, hitting the men in blue for 2-02 in the next five minutes.
After a 10th minute Ruairi Canavan free, the pre-match underdogs netted two goals within a minute of each in the 12th and 13thh minutes.
Niall Loughlin fires home Ulster University’s opening goal
First Ruairi Canavan set Niall Loughlin through for a well taken finish past Killian Roche, and then Roche pushed away Ciaran Daly’s shot where Oisin McCann was waiting to collect and drive the ball back past Roche.
A quick follow-up point from Loughlin made it 2-o3 to 0-02 and the Dublin side looked to be pedalling squares., though Cregg had the next two scores, from a free and from play, and then Davy Garland got two more to make it 0-06 to 2-03.
In heavy rain and a tricky wind, Darragh Canavan pointed twice for Ulster University, and then they struck for a third goal. McCann won a UCD kick-out and set up Ben McCarron for another close-range finish to make it 3-05 to 0-06, and Ulster University led 3-6 to 0-6 at the interval.
The Canavan brothers had extended their team’s lead to 11 points by the 35th minute and if UCD were to offer anything then the time was now. And how they responded.
Six unanswered points from Cregg (3), Garland (2) and substitute Liam Costello cut the lead to five points, 3-08 to 0-12, with UCD now dictating the play and driving forward.
Ulster University finally got a score – their first in 14 minutes – when John Largo Ellis’s shot in the 47th minute touched the crossbar on its way over, and though Garland and Cregg scored two more for UCD, the Dublin side were playing the clock as much as the opposition now.
Ruairi Canavan’s free kept the leaders ahead by five, and UCD knew they needed goals to salvage the game at this stage. They never arrived. Ulster University defended brilliantly in the closing minutes but it was fitting that Darragh Canavan ended the game as he started it, with a point, as Ulster University left Tralee as deserving third-level football champions for 2024.
Ulster University: R McGeehin (Donegal); R Boyle (Monaghan), C Diamond (Derry), S Donaghy (Tyrone); J Largo-Ellis 0-01 (Fermanagh); R Magill (Down), P Óg McCartan (Tyrone); O McCann 1-00 (Tyrone), B McCarron 1-00 (Derry); R McCaffrey (Fermanagh), C Cush (Tyrone); C Daly (Tyrone); D Canavan 0-05 (Tyrone), N Loughlin 1-01 (Derry), R Canavan 0-04 (0-03f) (Tyrone).
Subs: E Magee (Armagh) for McCartan (inj, 22), É Brown 0-01 (Down) for C Daly (44), Dara Curran (Tyrone) for N Loughlin (62), Jack Cunningham (Armagh) for C Cush (62), D Fullerton (Tyrone) for R Canavan (64).
UCD: K Roche (Laois), L Smith (Dublin), R Brickenden (Mayo), D McElearney (Monaghan); R O’Toole (Monaghan), S Callinan (Mayo), S Coffey (Meath); P Duffy (Dublin), J Lynam (Westmeath); D Gilmore (Derry), D Cregg 0-09 (0-04f, 0-01m) (Roscommon), D Moriarty (Meath), A Lynch (Meath), C Bolton (Kildare), D Garland 0-05 (0-03f) (Monaghan).
Subs: L Costello 0-01 (Galway) for L Smith (ht), Cormac Egan (Offaly) for P Duffy (36), S Forker (Dublin) for D Moriarty (36), B McNulty (Leitrim) for A Lynch (44), Theo Clancy (Dublin) for D Gilmore (60).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary)
