Good afternoon and welcome to The42‘s live minute-by-minute coverage of the crown jewel of third-level football.
It’s St Mary’s Belfast v UCD, and throw-in is at 3pm.
If you missed yesterday’s action, here’s a reminder of how both sides booked their place in the final:
It has been a remarkable run by St Mary’s just to make it this far. They’re bidding for their first Sigerson win in 28 years — and, to do it, they’ll have to beat the most successful team in the competition’s history.
No bother.
GOAL! UCD 1-0 St Mary’s 0-0 (Basquel, 1′)
What a start for UCD! There’s only 50 seconds on the clock when Colm Basquel gets in behind the St Mary’s defence and blasts to the net.
GOAL! UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-0 (Basquel, 3′)
It’s happened again! After conceding two goals in the space of 10 seconds yesterday, St Mary’s have been hit with another cruel double-whammy.
And it’s Colm Basquel again. He picks up the pass from Jack McCaffrey and cuts back inside before looping a shot inside the right upright.
This could get ugly quickly.
5 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-0: Bad wide for Mary’s. They haven’t settled at all.
8 mins – It’s yellow for St Mary’s full-back Aaron McKay; he doesn’t look impressed.
9 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-1: Mary’s are finally on the board as Oisin O’Neill finds space to stride forward from midfield and has time to slot the ball over the bar.
10 mins – Unlucky! Kieran McGeary’s shot from distance has the range but it clips the left upright and drops for the UCD defence to clear.
11 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-2: This is much better now from St Mary’s who have settled are enjoying plenty of possession in the UCD half. Conall McCann knocks over another point.
12 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-3: Three in a row for Mary’s and this one’s a beaut! Conor Meyler steps back inside and curls over a point off his left boot. Mary’s are certainly growing in confidence.
13 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-4: Just like that, there’s only two points in it! Oisin O’Neill pings over a free and Mary’s have managed to undo most of that early damage.
15 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-5: Simple stuff from St Mary’s as Conall McCann plays a neat pass inside to Cathal McShane and he taps over the bar to leave the minimum between them.
16 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-5: Chance for Kieran McGeary to level it up with a simple free but he drags it badly right and wide. He should have scored there.
17 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-5: Two wides in quick succession from UCD, first from Eamonn Wallace and then from Barry O’Sullivan.
19 mins — UCD 2-0 St Mary’s 0-6: All square! UCD can’t get to Conall McCann quickly enough to close him down and the Tyrone man kicks his second of the afternoon.
20 mins — St Mary’s 0-7 UCD 2-0: Oisin O’Neill kicks a long-range free and after conceding two goals in the opening three minutes, St Mary’s lead.
The Belfast college do have a stiff breeze at their backs but even still, that’s a super response to the early hammer blow.
23 mins — St Mary’s 0-8 UCD 2-0: Jack McCaffrey goes into the notebook and is shown a yellow card. Oisin O’Neill makes no mistake with the free and nudges Mary’s two in front.
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25 mins – UCD’s defence is looking a bit ragged and Matthew Fitzpatrick plays the ball to Conall McCann who slips between two defenders like they weren’t even there. Fortunately for UCD though, his shot drops short.
26 mins – Stephen Coen tries to force his way towards goal but Conor Lane whistles and says he put his hands in the face of his marker.
27 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-0: Beautiful stuff from Ciaran Corrigan who feints to the right, steps back on the left, and points. Mary’s lead by three.
28 mins – Eamonn Wallace goes into the book and he’s followed not long after by Kevin McKernan, the latter for a body check on Mick Fitzsimons.
29 mins – Paul Mannion puts the free wide.
29 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: Panic in the Mary’s defence as a kick-out comes back down on top of them quickly. It looks like UCD might briefly have a sight at goal but in the end, Mannion settles for a point which he wallops over the bar.
30 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: There’ll be two additional minutes.
30+2 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: Patient build up by UCD as they look to end the half on a positive but in the end, Barry O’Sullivan snatches at the chance and it’s well wide.
HALF TIME: St Mary’s Belfast 0-9 UCD 2-1
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SECOND HALF: We’re back underway. UCD will have the wind in this second half — will that make all the difference?
31 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: Early chance but Mary’s keeper Mark Reid makes the save to stop Conor Mullally.
32 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: Mannion puts the resulting 45 wide.
33 mins — St Mary’s 0-9 UCD 2-1: Liam Casey is fouled as he shoots and play is brought back for free. Mannion lines it up again but it’s another wide, UCD’s seventh of the afternoon.
34 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-1: Wind or no wind, if UCD don’t take their chances, they will be punished. Mary’s launch their first meaningful attack of the half and make it count, McShane pointing.
36 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-1: UCD’s free-taking duties swap to Barry McGinn, for now at least, but the result is still the same as he puts it wide.
38 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-1: Colm Basquel picks up a yellow card.
38 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-1: Basquel’s shot drops short into the square and Mary’s goalkeeper Mark Reid opts for a flying punch to clear it.
39 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-2: Super score from Barry McGinn who was forced out right but still manages to pick his spot and drop a point over the bar.
40 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-2: Conor Lane’s assistants draw his attention to an incident, and the upshot is that Mary’s corner-back Ruairi Mooney gets a yellow card. I’m not sure if anyone knows what that was for.
42 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-2: Another seemingly straightforward chance for UCD goes a-begging as Stephen Coen cuts across his shot and then watches as it hangs out to the right and wide.
43 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-3: One-point game! Conor McCarthy points for UCD.
44 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-3: Mark Reid is a lucky, lucky man. The Mary’s keeper was at fault for UCC’s second goal yesterday, and he very nearly gifted UCD a third here. Fortunately his defence manages to smother the danger after he botches a short kick-out and UCD waste the chance, Eamonn Wallace kicking a wide.
46 mins — St Mary’s 0-10 UCD 2-3: Another UCD wide, this time from Conor McCarthy. If they lose this, they will only have themselves to blame.
47 mins — St Mary’s 0-11 UCD 2-3: Chances have been few and fare between for Mary’s against the wind in this second half but what little they’ve had, they’ve taken.
48 mins — St Mary’s 0-11 UCD 2-4: Finally, one drops over the bar for UCD, and it’s Eamonn Wallace. One-point game again.
50 mins — St Mary’s 0-12 UCD 2-4: Ah, that’s superb from Corey Quinn who steps one way, then back the other, and floats a point over the bar from a tricky angle.
53 mins — St Mary’s 0-12 UCD 2-4: Michael Fitzsimons is the latest UCD man to see yellow. They’ve got just seven minutes to pull this one out of the bag.
55 mins — St Mary’s 2-4 UCD 0-12: And now Paul Mannion sees yellow. There wasn’t much in his tackle, which was a little bit high, but Kyle Mallon did enough with his reaction to make sure the card would come out.
57 mins — BLACK CARD! Barry O’Sullivan is shown the line for a deliberate pull down. Larry Moran will come on in his place. And all the while, the clock is ticking towards a St Mary’s win.
58 mins — St Mary’s 0-13 UCD 2-4: That could be the game! Kieran McGeary points a free from the right and Mary’s lead by three with just a couple of minutes to play.
59 mins – Mary’s free out. That’ll eat up another few seconds…
60 mins — St Mary’s 0-13 UCD 2-05: That was a mistake. Colm Basquel pounces and UCD are back within two. Will they have time for another few scores?
60+1 mins – Four additional minutes to play. Mary’s lead by two.
60+2 mins — St Mary’s 0-13 UCD 2-6: One minute played. UCD have a free from all of 50m… and Conor McCarthy LAUNCHES IT! One in it.
90 seconds to play…
Big call by Conor Lane! It looks like Larry Moran is fouled but he penalises the UCD man and it goes the other way.
Seconds left..
FULL TIME: St Mary’s Belfast 0-13 UCD 2-6
It’s all over – St Mary’s are the 2017 Sigerson Cup champions!
That final wide county for anyone who lost count: St Mary’s 6-14 UCD.
UCD only have themselves to blame.
Just to put that into context again, it’s St Mary’s first Sigerson in 28 years, and their first time to even make it in the final for 24 years.
Remarkable achievement.
So it’s commiserations to UCD, and congratulations to St Mary’s.
Thanks for reading.
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