NUI Galway 4-12 Trinity College 1-07
Darragh Berry at Dangan, NUIG
NUIG are through to the next round of the Sigerson cup where they will face St. Mary’s next Tuesday. The maroon and white started off with a flier with a goal from Sean Kelly coming in the opening minute. His goal was matched by Adam Gallagher who hit the back of the net from the penalty spot after Stephen Conroy’s shot on goal had been foot-blocked. Gallagher added a free and a point from play alongside his spot kick and when Michael Daly struck the ball over the bar, it was 2-3 to no score. Trinity eventually got off the mark through Bryan McGee with James Guinness and Dylan Brady following suit to give the Dublin outfit three points without reply. Adam Gallagher was having yet another outstanding game for the college and set up midfielder Enda Tierney for a point before grabbing another one of his own. Dylan Brady responded with a well taken point for Trinity but just on the stroke of half time, Michael Daly curled over a beauty to leave it 2-6 to 0-4 at the break.
NUIG showed their continued dominance from the get-go. Tierney collected the restarting ball before feeding Adam Gallagher who assisted Damien Comer in his only point of the day. Stephen Conroy nailed over another for NUIG soon after and with ten points between the teams in the 40th minute, the tie was all but finished. Ruairi Greene was unlucky not to grab himself a goal after his bullet of a shot was saved by Trinity ‘Keeper Liam Brady. Trinity had a goal chance of their own minutes later but Guinness’ shot was saved on the line by Stephen Brennan. It was only a matter of time before more goals did come. Adam Gallagher and Stephen Conroy combined well for the Maroon and White before squaring the ball to substitute Colm Kelly who fisted into the net. James Guinness rattled the net for Trinity from the restart with a fine taken goal but it was cancelled out soon after. Peter Cooke drove in a high ball towards Comer who broke it down for Matt McClean who had the easy task of slotting the ball home. Three Trinity points closed the show but they were comprehensively beaten by a strong NUIG team who march on to the next round.
Speaking after the game, NUIG manager Maurice Sheridan had his focus firmly on the next round but was worried about the injury that Michael Daly picked up towards the end.
“It was a bit of an impact on his leg. We don’t know what it is yet but we hope he is okay, because he is a fine player.”
“We are reasonably happy to be honest. The lads played well enough but still it wasn’t a great performance either from our perspective,”
“There were a lot of unforced errors. The wind made it hard for both teams but a win is a win. We are on the road now, we have to go to Belfast next Tuesday and that’s going to be a hard one”.
NUI GALWAY: Adam Gallagher 1-4 (1-0pen, 0-2f), Sean Kelly 1-2, Matt McClean 1-1, Colm Kelly 1-0, Michael Daly 0-2, Enda Tierney, Damien Comer and Stephen Conroy 0-1 each
TRINITY: James Guinness 1-1, Dylan Brady 0-3, Cian O’ Donoghue, Ross McCullagh and Bryan McGee 0-1 each
NUI GALWAY: Tadgh O’ Malley (Galway), Stephen Brennan (Mayo), Eoin O’ Donoghue (Mayo), Aaron O’Connor (Kerry), Sean Kelly (Galway), Kevin McDonnell (c) (Sligo), Luke Byrne (Galway), Enda Tierney (Galway), Peter Cooke (Galway), Stephen Conroy (Mayo), Michael Daly (Galway), Adam Gallagher (Mayo), Ruairi Greene (Galway), Damien Comer (Galway), Owen Gallagher (Antrim)
Subs: Colm Kelly ((Donegal) McDonnell H/T) Gerry O’ Kelly-Lynch ((Sligo) O’Connor H/T) Matt McClean ((Donegal) O. Gallagher 45’) Ryan Forde ((Galway) Daly 52’) Kevin Finn ((Roscommon) A. Gallagher 56’) Christian Bonner ((Donegal) Comer 56’)
TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN: Liam Brady, Jack Bell, KeelanBeirne, Matthew Shorthall, Daniel Quinn, Tadhg McGahern, James Guinness, Paul Kelly (Morgan Walsh 47’), David Boothman, Stephen Ward (James Cox 45’), Conor O’Driscoll (Simon Owens H/T), Cian O’Donoghue, Ross McCullagh, Bryan McGee, Dylan Brady
Ref: Marty Duffy (Sligo)
