Queens hold off TUS Midlands to seal progress 

The losers head into the play-offs.

Queens University's Luke Donnelly celebrates scoring a point. Picture: INPHO/Leah Scholes

Electric Ireland HE Sigerson Cup Round 2: Queens University 1-14 TUS Midlands 1-10 

With one-point wins for Queens and TUS Midlands over DCU and SETU Carlow respectively in the first round of the Sigerson Cup, Pairc Esler on a cold Tuesday night was the battleground for a quarter-final spot. And it was Queens who won out with a four-point victory, sending TUS into the play-offs.

There was little between the sides in the first half and it was reflected on the scoreboard which read 0-06 apiece at the break.

Queens pulled away early in the second half however with a goal and two quickfire points that gave them a five-point lead. With the scores tit-for-tat after that it looked like Queens were on their way but TUS gave themselves a glimmer of hope late on when they hit the net narrowing the margin to three. Queens responded with a point immediately, making the task harder for their opponents as stoppage time began, and the Belfast University held firm until the final whistle.

Luke Donnelly opened the scoring for Queens in the third minute from a free and TUS got their side of the scoreboard moving in the sixth minute when Jack Torpey cut inside beating his marker Cormac Quinn. He was taken down by Rory Donnelly and Luke Marran converted the resulting free. The game continued in that fashion with the sides level twice more until Queens hit three unanswered points to lead 0-6 to 0-4. The Midlands side replied with points in first half stoppage time, from Jack Dowd and Mark Gibbons to level the match at the half-time whistle.

Two superbly taken ‘45s from Cormac Delaney at the start of the second half were cancelled out by two points from Padraig Purcell who made a huge impact as a sub. And on 38 minutes when Joe McDaid escaped his marker and drilled into the roof of the net, points from Donnelly and Purcell gave Queens a 1-10 to 0-8 lead.

TUS were chasing the game for the remainder with traded points, including two more from Purcell, making it 1-13 to 0-10 with just minutes remaining.

Hope was restored for the Westmeath side when Brandon Kelly swatted the ball across the face of the Queens goalmouth to Brian Cooney who fisted home. But James O’Hara replied immediately with a point for Queens and despite TUS piling the pressure on with countless balls lumped into the square in the hopes of plundering another goal, it wasn’t to be for them and it was Queens who were celebrating at the final whistle.

Scorers for Queens: L Donnelly (0-05, 0-4f)), P Purcell (0-05, 01 f), J McDaid (1-00), D Higgins (0-01), C Bohill (0-01), R Boyle (0-01, J O’Hara (0-01)) 

Scorers for TUS Midlands: B Cooney (1-00), L Marren (0-02,frees), M Gibbons (0-02, 01 mark), C Delaney (0-02 both’45), M Whitiker (0-02) J Dowd (0-01), D Corrigan (0-01)

Queens: R Rafferty; P Brooks, E Corry, B Conway; C Quinn, R Donnelly, M Murnaghan; J McDaid, C Hynds; R Boyle, C Bohill, D Higgins; L Donnelly, D King, J Tunney 

Subs: P Purcell for Bohill (H-T), P McCarthy for Tunney (43), O McGrath for Boyle (53), J O’Hara for King (56) 

TUS Midands: J Shiels; D Dempsey, D Farrell, M Whitaker; J Torpey, D McVann, J Dowd; C Delaney, A Hughes; B Killian, M Gibbons, S Farrell; D Corrigan, S Fleming, L Marren 

Subs: Brandon Kelly for Fleming (27), Brian Cooney for Farrell (H-T), Kieran Colclough for Killian (45), Joe Mcmahon for Hughes (52), Oisin Flynn for Torpey (58)