Sigerson Cup: Luke's swansong effort leads TU Dublin past UCD after extra-time
STEPPING UP: Luke Swan of TU Dublin celebrates after scoring the winning point in extra-time during the HE GAA Sigerson Cup Quarter-Final match between TU Dublin and University College Dublin at TU Dublin Grangegorman in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
A dramatic point from substitute Luke Swan in the last minute of extra time sent TU Dublin through to the last four of the Sigerson Cup after a dramatic encounter with UCD in Grangegorman.
UCD will no doubt rue the loss of corner forward Daire Cregg to a straight red card in the 23rd minute which outweighed the impact of two black cards for TU Dublin’s Killian McGinnis and Seán Guiden in a niggly first half of normal time that at times threatened to boil over.
TU Dublin, playing with a stiff breeze, reached half-time with a three-point advantage (0-6 to 0-3) and stretched that to four on a number of occasions after the interval but with Ben O’Carroll and David Garland shooting some wonderful points UCD clawed the game back to parity at eleven points each at the end of the sixty minutes.
It might have been wrapped up by TU Dublin in normal time had Robbie McAllister’s 48th-minute rasper not come back off the crossbar. A goal then would have opened up a seven-point gap for the home side.
As it was, they had to settle for extra-time. Points from Shane Cunnane, their excellent freetaker Mark Lavin and McGinnis, with UCD replying with two fine scores from O’Carroll, had TU Dublin ahead by a point at half-time in extra time but with the wind back in their favour UCD edged ahead with two frees from the unerring Garland, the second an incredible effort from an acute angle near the right sideline.
The home team were not done, though and when they were awarded a free right on 80 minutes, Lavin stepped up for his seventh conversion to bring a dreaded penalty shootout into view.
That was before one last attack for TU Dublin, though, and after UCD had appeared to remove the danger, the ball squirmed into Dubliner Swan’s path and he made himself a hero with a cool finish.
It was a cruel way for UCD to go out but TU Dublin just about deserved their success. They had the better spread of scores in attack with Meath’s Darragh Campion and Dublin’s McGinnis and Monaghan’s Robbie McAllister also prominent on the scoreboard and in general play.
UCD on the other hand were overly reliant on the brilliant Garland and his full-forward colleague O’Carroll for their scores.
M Lavin (0-7, 7 frees), R McAllister (0-2), D Campion (0-2), K McGinnis (0-2), R Deegan (0-1), S Cunnane (0-1), L Swan (0-1).
D Garland (0-9, 6 frees), B O’Carroll (0-4), J Lynam (0-1), D Moriarty (0-1).
D Brooks (Wexford); S Ryan (Meath), C Hickey (Meath), K Callaghan (Dublin); C Hanley (Mayo), F O’Shea (Wicklow), N Carolan (Cavan); K McGinnis (Dublin), R Deegan (Dublin); R McAllister (Monaghan), R O’Dwyer (Dublin), D Campion (Meath); M Lavin (Dublin), S Cunnane (Roscommon), S Guiden (Dublin).
J Flynn (Meath) for Deegan (38), L Swan (Dublin) for O’Dwyer (40), C Grimes (Kildare) for Hanley (40), J Dalton (Kildare) for McAllister (55), C Murphy (Dublin) for Guiden (75).
G O’Rourke (Cavan); L Smith (Dublin), D McElearney (Monaghan), M Stone (Wicklow); K Kennedy (Dublin), P O’Keane (Wicklow), D O'Dowd (Dublin); J Lynam (Westmeath), P Tolan (Dublin);
P Ruttledge (Mayo), D Moriarty (Meath), S Coffey (Meath); D Cregg (Roscommon), B O’Carroll (Roscommon), D Garland (Monaghan).
C Feely (Roscommon) for Kennedy (18), E Darcy (Wicklow) for Ruttledge (44), D Egan (Offaly) for O’Carroll (56), Ruttledge for Smith (73), C Sugrue ( Roscommon)for Smith 75.
C Dourneen (Cavan).
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