TU Dublin 1-13 ATU Galway 0-9

Daire Walsh

TU Dublin produced a strong second half display at a rain-soaked Grangegorman 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.

Although midfielder Killian McGinnis got TU Dublin up and running with a second-minute point, ATU Galway stormed into the contest with unanswered efforts by Dylan Farrell, Conor Reed and corner-forward Nathan Grainger.

Ryan Deegan and Ryan O’Dwyer cancelled out this lead with successive points, only for the visiting Tribesmen to reassert 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 advance of traded scores from TU Dublin’s Darragh Campion and Ruane towards the end of the half.

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, a Lavin free helped the hosts to settle and Callaghan subsequently flicked a diagonal ball to the net on 40 minutes to finally create some daylight between the teams.

The Dublin college pushed forward from here, with former Dublin underage star Lavin coming into his own. Farrell did his best to keep ATU in the frame, but their capital opponents continued to pick off some fine scores and emerged as deserving winners.

Scorers

TU Dublin: 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.

TEAMS

TU DUBLIN – D Brooks; S Ryan, A Daly, F O’Shea; C Hanley, C Hickey, C Grimes; R Deegan, K McGinnis; R O’Dwyer, S Cummins, S Guiden; M Lavin, R McAllister, D Campion.

Subs: K Callaghan for McAllister (h-t), J Dalton for Guiden (43), F Murray for O’Dwyer (56).

ATU GALWAY – J Livingstone; J Foley, L Costello, J O’Malley; J McGrath, J Moran, J Shields; D Ruane, C Raftery; C Reed, A McDermott, M Byrne; N Grainger, D Farrell, C Keenan.

Subs: C Roarty for Shields (h-t), A McManus for O’Malley (43), G Higgins for Keenan (50), R Brogan for Grainger (58).

REF – A Nolan (Wicklow).