Gaelic Games

UCD beat TU Dublin on penalties to book Sigerson Cup final place

TU Dublin will kick themselves for wasting four of their eight penalty kicks

UCD’s Callum Bolton celebrates scoring a penalty. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
UCD’s Callum Bolton celebrates scoring a penalty. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Paul Keane
Wed Feb 05 2025 - 21:48

Sigerson Cup semi-final: UCD 1-7 TU Dublin 0-10 (AET) UCD win 5-4 on penalties

Precisely two hours and 20 minutes after starting, Ben O’Carroll finally secured UCD’s Sigerson Cup final place with the winning kick in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

The Roscommon forward came good for last year’s runners-up with the sudden-death winner at the end of a marathon encounter in Abbottstown.

Leitrim’s Barry McNulty was another talisman as he slotted one of the crucial penalties and also converted the point from a mark that sent the game to spot kicks.

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Monaghan defender Ryan O’Toole played an important role too with an extra-time goal to keep the Belfield outfit on track.

TU Dublin will kick themselves for wasting four of their eight penalty kicks while UCD also had three kicks saved, in keeping with a night of poor shooting overall.

Still, John Divilly’s side won’t be overly fussed about how they progressed with high hopes of making up for last year’s final defeat to Ulster University, whom they could yet face next Wednesday.

UCD will need to be better than this because they wasted a tonne of chances throughout.

They hit the half-time break with a 0-3 to 0-1 lead thanks in part to captain Daire Cregg who slotted two points.

Jordan Morris struck TU Dublin’s sole first-half point before going off injured after an apparent blow to the face.

TU Dublin still gathered the momentum to hit three scores in a row in the first 10 minutes of the second-half, tying it up at 0-4 apiece.

Darragh Lovett, fresh off hitting nine points for Cavan on his full NFL debut last weekend, was among their scorers.

Extra-time was no great surprise as the misfiring sides finished 0-5 to 0-5, Lovett’s point from a free proving the leveller.

O’Toole’s fortunate extra-time goal from a long delivery cancelled out TU Dublin points from Ollie Brooks, Cian Reilly and Lovett.

The game looked destined to go all the way to penalties and it was no surprise when they traded two more points each in the second period of extra-time.

UCD: K Roche (Laois) (0-2, one 45); R O’Toole (Monaghan) (1-0), M Stone (Wicklow), C McMorrow (Dublin); D Gilmore (Derry), C Drumm (Westmeath), D McElearney (Monaghan); D Moriarty (Meath), P Duffy (Dublin); C Egan (Offaly), B McNulty (Leitrim) (0-1, one mark), C Bolton (Kildare); D Cregg (Roscommon) (0-2, one free), L Breathnach (Dublin), A Lynch (Meath) (0-2).

Subs: S Callinan (Mayo) for Gilmore 29, B O’Carroll (Roscommon) for Breathnach h/t, Mark McNally (Dublin) for Moriarty 41, P Honeyman (Leitrim) for Lynch 48, D McEntee (Meath) for Cregg 53, L Costello (Galway) for McMorrow h/t e/t, S Forker (Dublin) for Egan h/t e/t.

TU Dublin: J Rodgers (Kildare); C McGeough (Cavan), M Nolan (Wicklow), N Carolan (Cavan); J Prendergast (Wicklow) (0-1), C Reilly (Cavan) (0-1), D Fee (Wicklow); D Rooney (Dublin), S Hanifin (Kildare); S Reynolds (Louth), J Lundy (Dublin) (0-1), D McCartan (Westmeath) (0-1); J Morris (Meath) (0-1), C Fee (Wicklow), S Jones (Monaghan).

Subs: O Brooks (Dublin) (0-1) for Morris 30+4, D Lovett (Cavan) (0-4, 4f) for Brooks h/t, Brooks for Rooney 51, Morris for McCartan 77.

Referee: B Tiernan (Dublin).