Dolan and Swords win Sigerson Cup Final with DCU
DCU's Darragh Swords and Niall Dolan Photo: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Kildare men, Niall Dolan and Darragh Swords were part of the victorious DCU side that defeated UCD, in a thrilling Sigerson Cup Final at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in county Mayo, on Wednesday night. DCU claimed the title despite a heroic performance by Kildare man, Callum Bolton for UCD.
Bolton kicked an incredible 1-2 in the second half alone, to keep the men in sky blue in contention until the very end. While Niall Dolan had a fine performance for DCU at full forward.
Monaghan’s Ryan O’Toole got the first goal of the game in this thriller, following a piercing run through the DCU defence, to give his side a 1-1 to 0-3 lead, after 10 minutes.
This lead however was short lived thanks to the lively Tom Prior for DCU, who was a constant threat throughout. This left the game in the balance, at the break.
In the 38th minute, Ethan Dunne finished a fine move as he scored a fine goal to give the victors a four point lead. Moments later however, Sarsfield’s Bolton narrowed the margin to two points with a breathtaking goal.
Late on however, the UCD attack, continued to be turned over and unable to get good shots off at goal, and their wide count continued to mount, meaning that by the time Darragh McElearney got his fist to an Aaron Lynch shot to punch in their third goal, they were running out of time.
DCU held on for a famous victory against John Divilly’s charges, and their first Sigerson Cup truimph since 2020.
E McGuinness; B Masterson, L Glennon, A Gavin; E O’Connor-Flanagan (0-1); R Gallagher, C Caulfield (0-1); E Dunne (1-2), C Heffernan (0-1); N Dolan (0-1), C Dolan, G McEneaney (0-1); T Prior (0-3), R Donoghue, L Marren (0-2, two frees). SUBS: L O’Dell (0-1) for Dolan (34), D Swords (0-3, one free) for Donoghue (36), J McGroddy for Dolan (50), J Tumulty for Marren (55).
K Roche; M Stone, D McElearney (1-0), T Clancy (0-1); C McMorrow, C Drumm, R O’Toole (1-0); C Bolton (1-2), P Duffy; M McNally, L Breathnach (0-1), C Egan; D Cregg (0-2, two frees), B O’Carroll, A Lynch. SUBS: S Callinan for McNally (h-t), P Honeyman for O’Carroll (44), D Moriarty for McMorrow (44), S Forker for Egan (48), L Costello for Duffy (57).
S Hurson (Tyrone).
