Round-up: Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup Round One:
2025 Electric Ireland HE Sigerson Cup Round Up
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN 0-12 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK 0-7
DCU DÓCHAS ÉIREANN 2-22 MTU KERRY 0-11
TU DUBLIN 0-8 UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY 0-5
UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK 3-17 ATU GALWAY 1-10
MTU CORK 1-10 ATU DONEGAL 0-6
By Kevin Egan
Reigning Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup champions Ulster University kicked off the 2025 competition with a win over ATU Sligo on Tuesday night, but the competition really got underway in earnest this afternoon and this evening, with five first round ties taking place.
With 58 wins between them, UCD and UCC sit atop the Roll of Honour of this 114-year-old competition, and they met in St. Patrick’s Park in Enniscorthy this afternoon, where UCD captain Daire Cregg kicked four points for the Dublin college in their 0-12 to 0-7 win.
The contest was evenly poised at the interval at 0-4 each, but UCC were heavily dependent on Conor Daly for scores, and in the second half the spread of talent in the UCD side started to tell. Cregg, Sam Callinan, Aaron Lynch and Simon Forkan all got on the scoresheet while Dublin’s Theo Clancy and Charlie Drumm of Westmeath were the central defensive anchors in a lockdown performance from the back division.
MTU Kerry’s first game back at the Sigerson level after winning the Trench Cup in 2024 was a baptism of fire, as they travelled to DCU to take on DCU Dóchas Éireann and were blown away by the North Dublin students.
Senan Baker (0-7), Tom Prior (0-4) and Conor Dolan (0-4) from just down the road in the Man’o’War club all had prolific afternoons up front, while Greg McEnaney and Niall Dolan put their names on the goals for the home side. Darragh O’Connor (0-8) of Kerins O’Rahilllys was the leading scorer for MTU Kerry, with seven of those points coming from dead balls.
It was a good night for all three colleges from the capital, with TU Dublin making it a clean sweep thanks to their strong second half showing against University of Galway at Grangegorman.
Liam Ó Conghaile and Cillian Ó Curraíon (three frees) were the scorers in a low-key opening half that ended with the visitors 0-4 to 0-2 in front.
Corner forwards Seán Reynolds and Jordan Morris cancelled out that lead with points early in the second half and they shut down a lacklustre UG attack in the second half, moving 0-8 to 0-5 in front with Morris bringing his tally to 0-4.
The Galway side had a chance to salvage a draw from a 13 metre free at the death, but Ó Curraíon’s blasted shot hammered into the crossbar, meaning the 2022 champions now go into ‘last chance saloon’.
ATU Galway had to travel to the astroturf pitch in UL after Liam Mellows were unable to host this afternoon’s game between the two western colleges as planned, but the manner of the victory for the Limerick students would suggest that they would have prevailed on any surface.
UL scored the first three points before Nathan Grainger’s reply left two in it by the midway point of the first half, but a Darragh Cashman goal before half-time left the visitors with a mountain to climb. Darragh Heneghan and Séan McDonnell found the net in the second half for UL, meaning they ended the game with 1-4 each, and the contest was done and dusted by the time Jack Jordan of Dunmore MacHales struck a consolation goal that helped reduced the final margin to 13 points, 3-17 to 1-10.
The latest action of the day was at Abbotstown, where MTU Cork built up a 1-6 to 0-0 lead at half-time with the aid of a strong breeze, and never looked back from there.
Edward Myers (0-4), Alan Dunwoody (0-3) and Keith O’Driscoll (1-1) led the scoring for the Leesiders, who stumbled through the first ten minutes but found their footing thereafter.
ATU Donegal struggled into the wind but when they opened the second half with points from Luke McGlynn, Reid Kelly and Daniel Marley, the comeback was building momentum.
Instead MTU settled themselves with the next two points, and always had a healthy cushion en route to their seven-point victory.