UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK remain on course for a successful defence of the Collingwood Cup after a comfortable victory in today’s quarter-finals, which were played at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Having overcome University College Dublin in last year’s final to win the competition for the 13th time, UCC were far too strong for Mary Immaculate College this afternoon.
🏆 FT ‘Rustlers’ #CollingwoodCup Quarter-Final: UCC 7-0 Mary I
— UCC Soccer (@UCCSoccer) February 5, 2018
Matt McKevitt ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Cormac Cotter ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Shane Daly-Butz ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/wwNDIuy4o9
A hat-trick from Waterford FC youngster Matt McKevitt and another goal courtesy of Shane Daly-Butz put UCC in control against their Limerick opponents, before Cormac Cotter came off the bench to score a 10-minute hat-trick which sealed a 7-0 win.
UCC will now face Queen’s University in tomorrow’s semi-finals. Aided by an Eamon Fyfe hat-trick, the hosts emerged victorious from a 4-3 thriller against Trinity College.
Fyfe’s goals had Queen’s 3-0 up early in the second half, but Trinity set up a dramatic finale thanks to a James Woods brace. Daire Rooney then scored a fourth for Queen’s, Muhammed Bukhatwa responded for Trinity by firing in a rebound after his penalty was saved by Conor Lally, but the Belfast side held on to book their place in the last four.
On the other side of the draw, St Patrick’s Athletic’s Jamie Lennon was instrumental as Dublin City University were comfortable winners against Ulster University. The 19-year-old, who has signed his first senior contract with the SSE Airtricity League club for the 2018 season, provided two assists and scored DCU’s final goal in their 5-1 victory.
Jack O’Connor scored twice, while Alan O’Sullivan and Rory Feely — who has swapped St Pat’s for Waterford FC for the forthcoming League of Ireland campaign — were also on target. Adam Brown scored a consolation goal for Ulster University, who played the closing stages of the game with 10 men after Kealan McDermott received a second yellow card.
Following the disappointment of losing last year’s final, UCD are still on track to regain the Collingwood Cup after their 3-0 triumph over Maynooth University. The 46-time winners subsequently progress to a meeting with DCU in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Georgie Kelly, who was top goalscorer in the SSE Airtricity League First Division in 2017, opened the scoring for UCD just after the half-hour mark. Kelly doubled their lead shortly after the restart before Daire O’Connor added a third.
Quarter-final results
University College Cork 7-0 Mary Immaculate College
Queen’s University 4-3 Trinity College
Dublin City University 5-1 Ulster University
University College Dublin 3-0 Maynooth University
Semi-final fixtures (Tuesday, 2:30pm)
Queen’s University v University College Cork
University College Dublin v Dublin City University
