Conor Dolan grabs brace as DCU brush ATU Sligo aside to move into Sigerson Cup quarters
DCU 3-14 ATU Sligo 0-10
Daire Walsh
Conor Dolan bagged a brace of goals at St Clare’s on Tuesday night as DCU progressed to the quarter-final stage of the Sigerson Cup with a convincing victory over ATU Sligo.
Following an initially cagey start to the game, DCU created daylight between the teams with unanswered points from Tom Prior and Sligo native Luke Marren. ATU subsequently got up and running with a fine score from play by James Donlon on 12 minutes, before DCU reinforced their authority with consecutive white flag efforts courtesy of Ciaran Caulfield, Ethan Dunne and Ryan Donoghue.
Additional points from Marren, Eoghan O’Connor Flanagan and Conor Heffernan were preceded by a fortuitous 19th minute goal from Dolan, but even though ATU finally responded through Jack Lavin, Dublin footballer Greg McEnaney split the posts to leave DCU 1-9 to 0-2 in front at the interval.
While Emmanuel Sehu found the range for ATU Sligo in the opening minute of the second half, Marren knocked over his third free of the action to restore DCU’s 10-point cushion. Their Connacht opponents continued to battle as the tie wore on, however, and a second score from Sehu complimented a 0-2 salvo from centre-forward Matthew Carey during a third-quarter purple patch for the visitors.
Yet DCU remained very much in control of their own destiny and finished this knockout encounter with a flourish. After Dolan claimed his second goal of the evening with a clinical strike from close-range, Marren’s fellow Sligo man Eoghan Smith also found the net in stoppage-time to ensure DCU eased into the last eight.
Scorers:
DCU: C Dolan 2-1, L Marren 0-4 (3f), E Smith 1-0, C Caulfield 0-2, E O’Connor Flanagan, G McEnaney, E Dunne, C Heffernan, R Donoghue, T Prior, E Ward 0-1 each.
ATU Sligo: M Carey 0-3 (2f), M Walsh 0-2, E Sehu 0-2 (1f), J Donlon, J Lavin, F Sehu 0-1 each.
Teams:
DCU: E McGuinness; E O’Connor Flanagan, A Gavin, B Masterson; D Joyce, R Gallagher, C Caulfield; G McEnaney, E Dunne; C Heffernan, R Donoghue, C Dolan; L Marren, N Dolan, T Prior. Subs: E Ward for Joyce (38), E Smith for N Dolan (49), J Browne for Dunne, M McDonald for McEnaney (both 54), L Glennon for Masterson (57).
ATU Sligo: C Kilcoyne; Dylan Walsh, C Johnston, R O’Rourke; M Walsh, J Donlon, Dillon Walsh; F Ryan, J Keaney; A Brown, M Carey, R Doherty; E Sehu, D O’Boyle, J Lavin. Subs: F Sehu for Brown (24), J Casey for E Sehu (52), O McLoughlin for Donlon (54), Brown for Ryan (57), K McNulty for Dillon Walsh (59).
Referee: A Smith (Meath).