UCD 1-14

University of Galway 1-6

UCD MANAGER JOHN Divilly said they have plenty of room for improvement as they head into the semi-finals of the Sigerson Cup but he was pleased with the way they dealt with the challenge of University of Galway at Dangan.

They went 24 minutes at one stage in the opening half without scoring but still turned around in ideal conditions trailing by just 1-3 to 0-4 and they got on top, pulling away in the final quarter for a deserved win.

“We looked a bit leggy at the start,’ said Divilly, who was more than familiar with a lot of the home team in his native county where he coaches many of them in Padraic Joyce’s Galway side.

“I don’t know if it was the trip down or a bit of flatness after the weekend but we definitely need to start a bit better.

“To be fair Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue are going to punch holes in any defence and it took a bit of time to get to grips with them, but once we got a bit of a foothold around the middle and we took the ball out of contact, we have a few good forwards to make it count.”

UCD opened up a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after 10 minutes but didn’t score again until first-half stoppage time as the Galway defence anchored by Sligo’s Canice Mulligan smothered them.

But the Galway college struggled for scores, notching three points from placed balls from Cillian O Curraoin and a goal after a well-worked move from Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue.

The impressive David Garland from Monaghan and Derry’s Donncha Gilmore drew UCD level five minutes after the restart after they introduced Roscommon forward Ben O’Carroll for his first action in the competition after his exploits for St Brigid’s in the All-Ireland club final.

UG, who slotted Offaly wing-back Rory Egan between the posts when goalkeeper Liam Brady was unable to start, brought in Galway’s Tomo Culhane for his first action since suffering a hamstring injury in October, but he had a goal chance saved by Killian Roche.

The sides twice exchanged points with O Curraoin and Cian Monaghan scoring for UG and Ryan O’Toole and Daire Cregg pointing for UCD to leave the sides level at 1-5 to 0-8 going into the final quarter.

Garland and Daniel Flaherty exchanged scores to leave them tied with 10 minutes remaining but once Garland edged UCD in front, they pulled away with Luke Breathnach getting a goal immediately afterwards after a poor kickout and they made sure of victory with four unanswered points, two of them from 45s from goalkeeper Roche, with UG finishing with 14 men when Galway’s Cathal Sweeney picked up a second yellow card.

Scorers for UCD: David Garland 0-5 (0-3m, 0-1f), Daire Cregg 0-3 (0-2f), Luke Breathnach 1-0, Killian Roche 0-2 ’45, Aaron Lynch 0-1, Jonathan Lynam 0-1, Donncha Gilmore 0-1, Ryan O’Toole 0-1.

Scorers for UG: Cillian O Curraoin 0-4 (0-3f, 0-1m), Ryan O’Donoghue 1-0, Cian Monaghan 0-1, Daniel Flaherty 0-1.

UCD

1. Killian Roche (Laois)

2. Liam Smith (Dublin), 3. Rory Brickenden (Mayo), 4. Daragh McElearney (Monaghan)

5. Ryan O’Toole (Monaghan), 6. Sam Callinan (Mayo), 7. Sean Coffey (Meath)

8. Peter Duffy (Dublin), 9. Jonathan Lynam (Westmeath)

10. Donncha Gilmore (Derry), 11. Daire Cregg (Roscommon), 12. Luke Breathnach (Dublin)

13. Aaron Lynch (Meath), 14. Diarmuid Moriarty (Meath), 15. David Garland (Monaghan)

Subs:

• 24. Liam Costello (Galway) for Duffy (half-time)
• 25. Ben O’Carroll (Roscommon) for Lynch (half-time)
• 30. Callum Bolton (Kildare) for Gilmore (42)
• 17. Kieran Kennedy for Smith (60)

UG

1. Rory Egan (Offaly)

2. Conor Dunleavy (Mayo), 3. Evan Lyons (Sligo), 4. Colin Murray (Galway)

5. Cathal Sweeney (Galway), 6. Canice Mulligan (Sligo), 7. Daniel Flaherty (Galway)

8. James McLoughlin (Galway), 9. Diarmuid Kilcommins (Galway)

10. Liam O Conghaile (Galway), 11. Tommy Conroy (Mayo), 12. Cian Monaghan (Galway)

25. Ruadhri Fallon (Roscommon), 14. Ryan O’Donoghue (Mayo), 15. Cillian Ó Curraoin (Galway)

Subs:

• 17. Tomo Culhane (Galway) for O Conghaile (40)
• 20. Conor Corcoran (Galway) for Murray (40)
• 13. Mark McInerney (Clare) for Monaghan (55)
• 23. Dylan Brady (Offaly) for Ó Curraoin (55)

Referee: Liam Devenney (Mayo)