TU Dublin prove too strong for ATU Galway in Sigerson opener
TU Dublin produced a strong second half display at a rain-soaked Grangegorman last night to secure a Sigerson Cup opening round victory over ATU Galway.
Level at 0-6 apiece during the interval, a third-quarter goal courtesy of substitute Kevin Callaghan ultimately swung the tie in the Metropolitan outfit’s favour. While the conditions made it extremely difficult to play a free-flowing brand of football, TU Dublin will nonetheless take great confidence from the way they worked themselves into the action and ultimately came away with the win that they craved.
Fresh from featuring for Dublin in their O’Byrne Cup success over Wicklow in Baltinglass seven days earlier, midfielder Killian McGinnis got on the end of a sweeping move to kick TU Dublin into an early lead in the second-minute.
Yet ATU Galway proceeded to storm into the contest with unanswered efforts by Dylan Farrell, Conor Reed and corner-forward Nathan Grainger. Farrell was joined in the ATU full-forward line by fellow Longford man Conor Keenan, while another player from the midlands county – Jordan Shields – lined out at left half-back.
There was no reason for TU Dublin to panic just yet, particularly with McGinnis’ centre-field partner Ryan Deegan and Ryan O’Dwyer on hand to cancel out the ATU lead with successive points. The visiting Tribesmen were getting plenty of joy in attack, however, and reasserted their authority through the boots of Farrell and Dylan Ruane.
Yet parity was restored when O’Dwyer and Mark Lavin both found the range for the hosts in quick succession. Darragh Campion’s superb point with the outside of his right boot squeezed TU Dublin into the lead for the very first time on the half-hour, but a second score from Ruane meant the two teams were inseparable at the break.
This left the tie delicately poised and with the scoreboard remaining unaltered for the opening eight minutes of the second period, it was almost impossible to guess which way this game was going to go.
However, Lavin free helped the hosts to settle and St Brigid’s club man Callaghan subsequently flicked a diagonal ball to the net on the stroke of 40 minutes to suddenly create some daylight between the teams. This was the cue for the Dublin college to flex their muscles with the impressive Lavin coming into his own.
Farrell did his best to keep ATU in the frame and Galway senior panellist James Foley also broke up the field from corner-back to kick an excellent point for the Connacht side. Nevertheless, the capital men continued to pick off some fine scores to keep their opponents at bay and ultimately emerged as deserving winners in the end.
M Lavin (0-5, 2f), K Callaghan (1-0), R O’Dwyer (0-2, 2f), S Cunnane (0-2), F O’Shea, R Deegan, K McGinnis, D Campion (0-1 each).
D Farrell (0-4, 4f), D Ruane (0-2), N Grainger (f), J Foley, C Reed (0-1 each).
D Brooks (Wexford); S Ryan (Meath), A Daly (Westmeath), F O’Shea (Wicklow); C Hanley (Mayo), C Hickey (Meath), C Grimes (Kildare); R Deegan (Dublin), K McGinnis (Dublin); R O’Dwyer (Dublin), S Cummins (Roscommon), S Guiden (Dublin); M Lavin (Dublin), R McAllister (Monaghan), D Campion (Meath).
K Callaghan (Dublin) for McAllister (h-t), J Dalton (Kildare) for Guiden (43), F Murray (Dublin) for O’Dwyer (56).
J Livingstone (Mayo); J Foley (Galway), L Costello (Galway), J O’Malley (Mayo); J McGrath (Galway), J Moran (Westmeath), J Shields (Longford); D Ruane (Roscommon), C Raftery (Galway); C Reed (Mayo), A McDermott (Roscommon), M Byrne (Westmeath); N Grainger (Galway), D Farrell (Longford), C Keenan (Longford).
C Roarty (Donegal) for Shields (h-t), A McManus (Fermanagh) for O’Malley (43), G Higgins (Galway) for Keenan (50), R Brogan (Longford) for Grainger (58).
A Nolan (Wicklow).