Niall Moyna keen to make major statement with a DCU victory

It is hard to imagine Niall Moyna experiencing a sweeter Sigerson Cup success with DCU if it occurs this weekend.

For a while before the current college football season began, the professor who guided DCU to Sigerson titles in 2006, 2010 and 2012 was surprisingly deemed surplus to requirements.

The official line is that ‘nothing happened’ of consequence to prompt the heave though Moyna wouldn’t be human if, after equally surprisingly being reinstated weeks later, he wasn’t keen to make a major statement.

He will certainly do that this afternoon if DCU beat city rivals UCD in a potentially thrilling Sigerson Cup semi-final at The Mardyke. UCD have the bigger names with Dublin’s Jack McCaffrey tearing defences asunder in his new half-forward role while Niall Kelly of Kildare and Westmeath’s John Heslin have been starring too.

But driven by Moyna’s ambition, DCU players like rising Dublin star Conor McHugh could very well be inspired to qualify for tomorrow’s decider.

“I wasn’t sure what happened with that,” said attacker McHugh of Moyna’s brief departure as manager. “Thankfully he found the time to manage us again and we’re delighted.”

The third-year Economics and Law student knows silencing McCaffrey, would go a long way to overcoming UCD. “I’m sure we’ll have someone for him, he said.”