THE preliminary round of the 1996 Sigerson Cup got underway yesterday with three of the four matches completed. Tralee RTC, University College Dublin and this year's hosts, University of Limerick all advanced to the first round which takes place next Tuesday. This afternoon, Queen's Belfast and the University of Ulster at Coleraine conclude the preliminaries.

Tralee's victory was historic because it was the RTC's first outing in the Sigerson but on current form they looked too strong for Maynooth, a level below them in Division Two, and so it proved before a big crowd at Stack Park. Leading by 1-3 to no score at halftime, the home side were never really troubled and the nearest the visitors got on the scoreboard was at the end when late scores brought the final margin to 2-7 to 1-5.

Goalkeeper Ger Cremin scored Tralee's first goal from a penalty after a quarter of an hour and Stephen Wallace added the second shortly into the second half. Maynooth's attack loosened up in the second half - after they suffered a sending-off - but it was never going to be enough.

The winners dominated mid-field, with Kerry's William Kirby helping out from full forward, but failed to convert anything like a representative amount of possession into scores. Their defence, however, was in fine form with corner back Fergus O'Connor outstanding.

"Our ambition was to stay in division one (of the Higher Education League)," says RTC Development Officer, John Kelleher, band we achieved that. Next we wanted to get over the first round in the Sigerson and see where we stand against UCD. The UCD match was our target."

Kelleher's target nearly came unstuck at Belfield where UCD bad a far harder than expected passage against Cork RTC. Expecting anything else was, however, to ignore Cork coach John Meyler's record in both Sigerson and Fitzgibbon competition.

Sure enough, the match went to the final bend before Mayo under-21 star David Nestor scored the winning point for a 1-9 to 1-8 victory. Another Mayo celebrity - albeit of more distant vintage - Anthony Finnerty, currently pursuing a post-graduate degree, chipped in a vital 1-2.

University of Limerick, who are to host the finals for the first time, swept into the next round with a merciless drubbing of Trinity at Santry. Kerry's Dara O'Cinneide contributed 2-5 as UL hammered out a 4-16 to 1-6 victory.