Maynooth stand between UL and historic Sigerson, Fitzgibbon and Collingwood Cup treble
HEADING TO THE FINAL: UL captain Conor Carew heads home from a corner to give UL the lead against Queens University Belfast in their Collingwood Cup semi-final. Picture by: Mark Nolan
The University of Limerick will go in search of a historic intervarsity treble of Sigerson, Fitzgibbon and Collingwood Cup triumphs on Wednesday after they edged out Queens University Belfast in their semi-final clash on Tuesday.
Tournament hosts UL overcame UCD via a penalty shootout on Monday while Queens saw off Trinity College to tee up this final four clash which saw both teams have a player sent off after Conor Carew had netted what proved to be the winner.
The quick turnaround between games resulted in a cagey opening quarter of the game.
No clear chances were created by either side with set pieces proving fruitless for UL despite their significant height advantage.
Both sides had to contend with a strong breeze that almost had a decisive impact on the game. A shot from Limerick winger Leon Daly was aided goalwards by the breeze with the ball spilling off the gloves of Queens goalkeeper John McCooe and looping over the bar.
That proved to be a wakeup call for Queens, who came into the game a bit more with full backs Jack Ovens and Matthew Murphy making inroads on the flanks. Ovens did well to win a corner in the 24th minute and that came very close to seeing the deadlock broken.
James Hood delivered a low driven cross that was flicked on towards the back post by Caoimhin Bonnar, allowing captain Daniel Dillion to side-foot an effort towards goal but UL goalkeeper Josh Coady did well to spread himself and make a crucial save to keep the sides level.
The remainder of the half had a familiar feeling as the ball spent plenty of time in the midfield. Harry Sherlock and Matt Jones saw a lot of action for UL as they were hassled and harried by Dillion and Hood.Â
When they did win possession Limerick looked to their outlets on the wings in the form of Leon Daly and Dean Hegarty, who were proving to be a nuisance for their markers. Daly won a number of fouls in the opening half, but UL failed to capitalise on them.
With half time approaching Ovens found himself under real pressure and was forced to scramble the ball clear for a corner. Jones produced a perfect delivery to the back post, finding the head of Conor Carew who made no mistake to give UL the lead heading into the break.
Queens started the second half on the front foot, and a speculative shot come cross from Ovens inside the first sixty seconds had Coady concerned. But much to his relief the ball dropped over the crossbar.
The Ulstermen’s task became much harder when two yellow cards in quick succession for Luke Wilson saw them reduced to ten men with over half an hour left to play.
UL looked to make the most of their numerical advantage and went in search of a second goal with Daniel O’Dwyer and Isaac O’Sullivan sprung from the bench to add fresh legs to their attack.
Limerick couldn’t find a way through however and momentum swung back in favour of Queens when Harry Sherlock was dismissed in the sixty seventh minute. The Wexford native seemed to slip as he went for a loose ball with the referee deeming it to have been a reckless challenge.
A nervous energy creeped into the game, Queens were certainly boosted by the UL sending off and began to put the Limerick defence under real pressure. The centre back duo of Alex Cuddy and Fintan O’Kelly were called upon to deal with multiple crosses into the box while Joey Rushe saw an increasing number of attacks coming down his wing.
As the game ticked into the last ten minutes Queens came agonisingly close to an equaliser. UL failed to clear their lines with Cole McElnea picking up possession slipping the ball to Luke Doran who threaded a through ball into Bonner who unleashed a venomous strike with the outside of this boot. Coady produced a fine fingertip save to keep his side ahead.
With the match now deep into injury time Queens continued to pump bodies forward and produced one final chance, a dangerous ball was cutback across the face of goal, but it evaded its target allowing UL to release the pressure.
UL will now look to exact revenge on Maynooth who defeated Limerick in the semi-finals last year on route to the title. The final will be played at Jackman Park in Limerick on Wednesday afternoon at 2:15pm.
Elsewhere UCD and the University of Galway recorded convincing wins in their Farquhar Cup semi-finals.
The students put the disappointment of their penalty shootout loss to UL to the back of their minds as they saw off city rivals Trinity 6-0. Mikey Raggett scored a fine hat-trick while Matthew Alonge bagged a brace with Carl Lennox rounding out the scoring.
Beaten 2025 Collingwood finalists Galway put four past DCU in the other semi-final with goals from Milo Fitzgerald, Kevin Ketterick, Ross Ward and Donnacha McNamaraw while James Ralph found the back of the net for DCU.
The Farquhar Cup final will be played at 12pm on Wednesday on the University of Limerick astroturf.
Josh Coady; Conor Carew, Fintan O'Kelly, Alex Cuddy, Joey Rushe; Jack Ahern, Harry Sherlock, Matt Jones; Dean Hegarty, Donnacha O'Leary, Leon Daly.
Tommy Lillis, Daniel O'Dwyer, Isaac O'Sullivan, David Moloney, David Holden, Luke Ryan, Daniel Doyle.
John McCooe, Jack Ovens, Matthew Murphy, Luke Wilson, Daniel Dillon, James Henry, James Hood, Caoimhin Bonnar, Cole McElnea, Luke Doran and Cameron Sloan.
Cameron Kelly, Luke Dobbins, Adam Lonsdale.
Ken Gorman.
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