COLLINGWOOD CUP: UCD won a tense and competitive contest against University of Limerick to advance to the semi-finals of the Collingwood Cup ( Intervarsity Football Championship) as the only team with a perfect record.

UCD finished with nine points after winning their three matches to confirm their standing as tournament favourites, but it was a close run thing. Their winning goal against a stubborn Limerick came only in the closing 10 minutes.

Their defence was finally unhinged when left-back Eric Light floated a ball over the top and Craig Sargeant ran on to steer the ball wide of Ben Spicer.

Their opponents in the semi-final today will be Queen's University, Belfast, who will be expected to be fresher than UCD as they were drawn in a group of three.

They advanced to the semi-final by drawing with Jordanstown after their 2-0 win over St Mary's on the previous day.

Jordanstown led at half-time after Neil McCabe headed in a free-kick.

Queen's had Stuart Harper in good form at centre back and Paul McDonald was prominent as they equalised on the hour. The goal came from a corner-kick with Mark Sterling, a lively centre forward throughout, applying the finishing touches.

University of Ulster, Coleraine, advanced from Group One with seven points from their three matches to edge out Magee University. They finished on a high note by hitting RCSI for three - their goals coming from Rio Horner, Ryan Burcher and Andy Kirkpatrick.

The holders, UCC, were far from impressive as they denied NUI Galway in a 2-2 draw. Cork sprinted into a two-goal lead through Kevin Cannon and Paul Rose but were caught by two late strikes from Alan Muphy - the second from a penalty.