DCU take down heavy favourites UUJ in Jordanstown

UUJ 0-10 DCU 3-10

Two first-half goals inside five minutes set DCU on their way to a comfortable Sigerson Cup victory over a heavily fancied UUJ team at Jordanstown yesterday.

The home side boasted a glittering array of inter-county talent, but Niall Moyna’s DCU side were more cohesive and played as a team as opposed to a bunch of individuals.

First-half goals from Enda Smith and Niall Murphy gave DCU a 2-5 to 0-2 lead after 28 minutes.

Although UUJ outscored their opponents by 0-8 to 0-3 either side of half-time, with Patrick McBrearty and Kieran Hughes most influential, DCU finished strongly with Enda Smith bagging his second goal deep into injury-time.

Donal Smith came off the bench to land a couple of nice scores late on as DCU progressed to the quarter-finals easier than even their manager, Niall Moyna, expected.

“UU were heavy favourites and sometimes when the expectation is on you it is difficult to perform because the game is not played on paper,” he said.

“We know what that has felt like in the past and been on the receiving end of it.

“We may not have had household names today but we have a good team and we felt confident our defence could contain their marquee forwards.”

Moyna praised Jack Smith’s shackling of Mayo star Cillian O’Connor, predicting the Dublin under-21 All-Ireland winner will break into the senior team this year.

O’Connor’s only score was a free in the 49th minute while Conor McHugh landed five points for DCU, four from placed balls.

UUJ: R Beggan; K Brady, R Johnston, M Johnston; K Clarke (0-1), M Donnelly, S Sheridan (0-1); M Argue, C Mooney (0-1); K Hughes, R O'Neill (0-1), R Donnelly (0-2); P McBrearty (0-2, two frees), C O'Boyle, C O'Connor (0-1, free).

Subs: B Sankey for Argue (29 mins), D Savage (0-1) for Sankey (BC, 35 mins), L Gervin for O'Neill (40 mins), F Burns for O'Boyle (44 mins).

DCU: T Lowe; J Smith, C Boyle, C Daly (0-1); D Ward, C Moynagh, C Begley; T Flynn, S O'Brien; D O'Connor, C Meredith, D Byrne; E Smith (2-0), N Murphy (1-1), C McHugh (0-5, 4f).

Subs: R Connor (0-1) for Meredith (39 mins), D Smith (0-2) for Murphy (45 mins), C McGreanor for O'Connor (46 mins), E O'Connor for Byrne (52 mins), S Carey for Moynagh (55 mins), D Wrynn for McHugh (58 mins).

Referee: Pádraig Hughes (Armagh)