{"id":270373,"date":"2026-01-29T15:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/270373\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:59:09","slug":"ucc-finish-with-a-flourish-to-dethrone-dcu-and-reach-last-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/270373\/","title":{"rendered":"UCC finish with a flourish to dethrone DCU and reach last four"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCC: 3-16 (3-3-10)\u00a0<\/p>\n

DCU: 1-20 (1-6-8)\u00a0<\/p>\n

UCC came good to dethrone reigning champions DCU in a classic Sigerson Cup match at the DCU Sportsground on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Paul O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s side contributed to a highly entertaining quarter-final encounter in what was a game for the ages.<\/p>\n

UCC recovered from a couple of setbacks including coming back from a four-point half-time deficit. Extra-time did look on the cards though until the eventual winners kicked the last two points to prevail by two points.<\/p>\n

It was a great game of football with some excellent point-taking with six two-pointers in the first half alone.<\/p>\n

UCC, with 24 Sigerson Cup titles, march on to the last four and 60 minutes away from the final in Croke Park.<\/p>\n

DCU started better and it was reflected on the scoreboard as they hit 1-2 without reply in the first eight minutes. Finbarr McLoughlin with the scores including a two-pointer.<\/p>\n

\"UCC\u2019sUCC\u2019s Conor Daly and Bryan Masterson of DCU in action. Picture: INPHO\/Nick Elliott<\/p>\n

UCC did settle as they rattled off three unanswered points from a pair of Conor Daly frees and a Ruair\u00ed Murphy effort.<\/p>\n

The sides then swapped orange flags, Greg McEneaney for DCU while James Horgan did likewise for UCC.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s charges were level when Daly (free) and Olan Corcoran pointed, 0-7 to 1-4 after 21 minutes.<\/p>\n

The home team did tack on a two-pointer from Senan Baker and a Lorcan O\u2019Dell effort until UCC goaled six minutes before the break. A lovely slick move started by Daly ended with Ciar\u00e1n Santry finishing beautifully to the net.<\/p>\n

It was followed by Cormac Dillon bisecting the posts as UCC went ahead for the first time.<\/p>\n

DCU finished the half strongly though as they got the last three scores including two two-pointers from O\u2019Dell and a Baker free as their team led 1-12 to 1-8 at half-time.<\/p>\n

UCC required a strong start to the new half but it was a slow-burner with wayward shooting on both sides.<\/p>\n

UCC then got their second goal after 37 minutes when Ruair\u00ed Murphy got a vital touch after Daly\u2019s two-point effort dropped short.<\/p>\n

\"UCC\u2019sUCC\u2019s Olan Corcoran on the ball. Picture: INPHO\/Nick Elliott<\/p>\n

DCU\u2019s response was excellent though with three scores on the bounce including a two-point free from goalkeeper Michael Tansley, 1-16 to 2-8 after 42 minutes.<\/p>\n

The aforementioned Daly landed a vital free from close range. It gave his team a boost when Michael McSweeney landed a two-pointer followed by a magnificent Jacob O\u2019Driscoll goal following a driving run, 3-11 to 1-16 after 46 minutes.<\/p>\n

UCC were now in the ascendancy as Horgan slotted over an orange flag to open up a three-point buffer.<\/p>\n

DCU kicked four of the next five points to draw parity after 58 minutes, 1-20 to 3-14.<\/p>\n

UCC goalkeeper Austin Murphy denied Baker a certain goal and it proved huge when Tom Cunningham and Dillon pointed to seal a sweet comeback victory for UCC.<\/p>\n

\"UCCUCC celebrate after the win over DCU. Picture: INPHO\/Nick Elliott<\/p>\n

Scorers for UCC: C Daly 0-5 (0-4 f), J Horgan 0-4 (2 2pt), R Murphy 1-1, C Santry, J O\u2019Driscoll 1-0 each, M McSweeney (1 2pt), C Dillon 0-2 each, T Cunningham, O Corcoran 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

DCU: F McLoughlin 1-5 (1 2pt), L O\u2019Dell (1 2pt), S Baker (1 2pt, 1 2pt f) 0-4 each, M Tansley (1 2pt f), G McEneaney (1 2pt), C Dolan 0-2 each, S McCartan 0-1.<\/p>\n

UCC: A Murphy (Renard, Kerry); D Peet (Clonakilty), J O\u2019Driscoll (Valley Rovers), D O\u2019Connor (Kenmare Shamrocks, Kerry); L Evans (Keel, Kerry), C Molloy (Nemo Rangers), C Kenneally (Clonakilty); M McSweeney (Knocknagree), T Cunningham (Kilshannig); O Corcoran (St Mary\u2019s), R Murphy (Listry, Kerry, capt), J Horgan (Firies, Kerry); C Dillon (Duagh, Kerry), C Daly (Clonakilty), C Santry (Carbery Rangers).<\/p>\n

Subs: E Daly (Valentia Young Islanders, Kerry) for O Corcoran (25, inj), H Ahearne (Ballincollig) for L Evans (46), K O\u2019Reilly (Carrigaline) for C Santry (48), D Desmond (Ballincollig) for J Horgan (49).<\/p>\n

DCU: M Tansley; E O\u2019Connor-Flanagan, L Kelly, B Masterson; E Ward, G McEneaney, C Lynch; C Heffernan, E Dunne; F McLoughlin, S Baker, D Swords; R Sinkey, L O\u2019Dell (capt), J Tumulty.<\/p>\n

Subs: C Dolan for R Sinkey (19), S McCartan for L Kelly (h-t), T Baker for B Masterson (45), S Carr for J Tumulty (48).<\/p>\n

Referee: Conor Dourneen (Cavan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UCC: 3-16 (3-3-10)\u00a0 DCU: 1-20 (1-6-8)\u00a0 UCC came good to dethrone reigning champions DCU in a classic Sigerson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1964,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-270373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}