Donnelly the late Queen’s hero in Sigerson win

Sigerson Cup Round 1

QUB 1-10
DCU 2-6

By Michael McMullan

An injury time free from Luke Donnelly saw Queens’s edge home in an exciting finish on Tuesday night at The Dub.

It was a game of two halves. A drab opening period was followed by a more open third quarter. There was little to choose between the teams and two goals with seconds of each other looked to have before Donnelly’s winner.

The key score in a drab opening half came in the 17th minute. A diagonal ball to DCU’s Matthew Costello on the edge of the square ended up with Conor Corbett slotting to the net on the way to 1-2 to 0-2.

Donnelly notched two early frees from the home side before Donohoe passed to Costello for a DCU response.

Dan Higgins blasted a half chance over before a neat Donnelly pass played in Quinn to level the game, 1-4 to 0-7.

A second Diarmuid King had Queen’s back in the lead with 12 minutes to go before Shane O’Donnell and Senan Baker (free) edged the Dublin students back into the lead.

Late Late Drama at Queens – Part THREE..

See a 63rd minute free decide tonight’s @ElectricIreland Sigerson Cup game for @QueensGAA against @DCUDocEirGAA at the Dub Arena in Belfast.

You can watch the full Live Stream back now on our YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/7XwdQnTYaD

— GAA Higher Education (@HigherEdGAA) January 9, 2024

Ronan Boyle fired over with a minute to go and there was extra-time written all over a game that took an age to spark into life.

A pass form the influential Aidan McCluskey opened up DCU in the closing stages with Purcell and Joe McDade make a goal chance that Luke Donnelly buried to the net for a 1-9 to 1-6 lead.

In the very next attack, Donohoe’s trademark outside of the boot pass was punched to the home net by Costello.

There was still a chance for QUB to cast the dice one final time and when sub Patrick Brooks was awarded a questionable free, Donnelly made no mistake to stroke over the winner.

QUB: R Rafferty; A McCluskey, E Corry, B Conway; C Quinn (0-2), R Donnelly, M Murnaghan; J McDade, C Hynds; R Boyle (0-2), C Bohill, D Higgins (0-1); L Donnelly (1-3, 3f), D King (0-2), J Tunney
Subs: P McCarthy for E Corry (HT), L McBride for J Tunney (40), K Brooks for B Conway (42), P Purcell for C Bohill (42)

DCU: C McGuinness, B Masterson, S Fitzgerald, J Grant; R Keane, J Hagan, C Caulfield; M Costello (1-1), R Donohoe (0-1); S O’Donnell (0-2), S Walsh, K McGann; K Quinn, S Jones, C Corbett (1-1)
Subs: S Baker (0-1f) for S Walsh (HT), C O’Brien for K Quinn (43), J McGroddy for S Jones (46), J O’Regan for K McGann (49)

Referee: K Faloon (Armagh)

Sigerson Cup – Round 1
Tuesday
A – QUB 1-10 DCU 2-6
G – University of Galway 1-10 TU Dublin 2-8
E – Maynooth 4-11 MTU Cork 2-9
Wednesday
D – ATU Galway v UCD (Liam Mellowes, 2.30pm)
B – SETU Carlow v TUS Midlands (IT Carlow, 7pm)
C – UU v UCC (Abbotstown, 7.30pm) – Live on YouTube
F – UL v ATU Donegal (Bekan, 7.30pm)
Thursday
H – ATU Sligo v St Mary’s (The Dub, 8pm)