NUIG went into this Sigerson Cup quarter final against UCC as rank underdogs.
They left it with their heads in the air and left UCC with their tail between their legs.
With 21 championships to their name, the Cork college are mainstays of the Sigerson Cup. This year was expected to be no different. On paper, their panel is one of, if not the strongest of all competing teams.
Boasting the likes of Tipperary’s Jack Kennedy, Kerry’s Sean O’Shea, Killian Spillane and Conor Geaney, Cork’s Sean Powter, Sean Sherlock amongst others – their lineup is a who’s who of the brightest young stars in inter-county football.
However, we are learning that in the Sigerson Cup, sometimes holding so many young county stars can actually be a disadvantage. Sean Powter and Sean O’Shea weren’t available on Wednesday, presumably because of their commitments to their county teams.
A tight-knit, focused bunch, like this NUIG one, will always emerge on top.
Pic: Via Eoghan Cormican’s Twitter.
NUIG didn’t give a damn about that though. They were focusing on their own game and they knew that they could put it up to these lads, just like the Garda College did last week.
They went down to UCC’s back garden and they made hay in the Mardyke fields. The Galway college got off to an an absolute belter of a start, reeling off an unanswered 1-3 in the first ten minutes of the game, with Limerick’s Brian Donovan notching their goal.
From there, the home side were always chasing their tail and that task was made even tougher by the dogged resilience and ferocious belief of these men in maroon.
Billy Morgan’s men were stuck to the ground, and only notched their first point in the 25th minute of the game via a Stephen Sherlock free.
They hadn’t registered a score from play by half time.
They were still in touch, but only just. NUIG soon went down to 14 men when Aaron O’Connor received a straight red card in the 40th minute of the game and there were fears that the wind might be taken out of their sails, but it only spurred them on.
UCC had only managed three from play by full time.
They went on to win by 5. 1-9 to 0-7 being the final score and on they march to the last four where they will take on DIT.
