SIGERSON CUP FIRST ROUND: St Mary's, Belfast 1-14 Mary Immaculate 0-4:A FAR better-balanced St Mary's, Belfast, side had a facile win over Mary Immaculate, Limerick, at St Loman's Lakepoint Park in Mullingar yesterday. In slippery conditions, the standard of football never reached any great heights and the winners led by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break, despite playing against the wind.

Despite the losers opening the scoring in the first minute of the second half from a Fionn Keane free, the Belfast side took control with a succession of points. Their goal came in the 13th minute through Paul McAleer. A slick-moving winners’ attack, in which Antrim’s Kevin Niblock excelled, added a string of points.

The St Mary’s dominance can be gauged by the fact they had eight different scorers from play. All four of the losers’ points came from frees, including two from Limerick star Ian Ryan, whose influence was minimal.

ST MARY'S, BELFAST:T Harney; M Slane, C Campbell, M Digan; K O'Boyle, B Canavan, B Óg Maguire (0-1); J Kelly (0-1), M McKenna; M Murray (0-3), K.Mossey (0-2), M Pollock (0-1); P McAleer (1-1), K Niblock (0-4, two frees), M Began. Subs: C McGourty (0-1) for Campbell (35 mins), D Canavan for McAleer (42 mins), O MacIomhair for Began (47 mins), P Carville for Pollock (53 mins), R Dolan for Niblock (55 mins).

MARY IMMACULATE, LIMERICK:A Sullivan; B Fahy, K Enright, E O'Carroll; P O'Dwyer, D Ryan, P Ó Raghallaigh; I Ryan (0-2, frees), R Ahern; E MacGearailt, M Horan, L Costeran; F Keane (0-2, frees), R McCann, B Horgan. Subs: S Treacy for Fahy (42 mins), R Fitzgibbon for Ó Raghallaigh (50 mins), B Reidy for Horan (50 mins), K Sullivan for McCann (55 mins).

Referee:D Brazil (Offaly).