The Team That Just Couldn’t Be BeatenCollege Take Back Their Sigerson Crown in Marathon Campaign
by Mark Cooper (Sports Editor)
On the 11th of January the rain came down in sheets at the Mardyke as a modest crowd watched the University College Cork team kick off their Sigerson Cup campaign against the University of Limerick. A controversial penalty awarded to the visitors late in the game was all that separated the sides at the finish, meaning UCC would have to take the winding road through the backdoor. Many began to speculate that considering the Limerick side won in the absence of intercounty stars Eoghan McLaughlin and Jack Glynn, they would be real contenders. DCU, Ulster University and UCD were also in the conversation as tournament favourites. One man who certainly didn’t lose the faith in his troops was the College’s battle-hardened manager Billy Morgan. For phases of that UL game, UCC overcame the elements in the first half, working scores against the wind that intercounty teams would be proud of. Within the group there was no sense of panic; Just belief. Something special was beginning to develop that night in Cork, and it was evident that the boys in the skull and crossbones would go to the wall for each other.
A gutsy performance from newly promoted ATU Galway left the Cork side frustrated for large periods of the game. As it transpired, that second round win in Tuam would be the only relatively straightforward encounter they would have in the campaign. A third-round match against Queen's University Belfast looked to be settled, but a sensational comeback by the northern side saw them claw back an eight-point deficit to earn extra time. Rory Donnelly scored a free kick from 45 metres out two minutes into injury time, and a penalty shootout was required. The UCC men looked unusually relaxed before the showdown, and that mindset certainly served them well as they achieved seven penalties. O’ Gara, Quigley and Herlihy were all on target while Catháil O’ Mahony and Dylan Geaney both had to step up a second time. With the shooters doing their part, it was Éire Óg goalkeeper Dylan Foley who emerged the hero, saving Queens’ seventh penalty to carry the College into the next round. The drama was over in Abbottstown, at least for another week.
The following Wednesday, St. Mary’s of Belfast made the journey down to the same venue for the quarter final. A tight affair was to come, with poor UCC decision making up top counteracting a robust defensive unit that held Mary’s to only three points in the first half. Catháil O’Mahony’s glorious solo goal was all that separated the sides at the interval. A tit for tat half of football was to come, with the College looking to have secured their place in the semi-final in the dying moments, before a long ball into the box was gathered by Matt Og McGleenan and fired into the net. Another twenty minutes was to come for a tiring UCC. St. Mary’s took the lead for the very first time in the game in the first period of extra time, but the man of the moment O’Mahony popped over a free in the 83rd minute to level the affair. Penalties again. Herlihy and Mahony both delivered, while Dylan Foley pulled off an incredible hat-trick of saves having employed effective Emiliano Martinez style tactics. It was left to Mark Cronin to carry UCC into the final four, and the Nemo Rangers man blasted the ball past Charlie Smyth to keep the Sigerson dream alive.
TU Dublin would be the next test of the group’s resilience in Carlow’s Cullen Park. UCC took 31 shots, and scored just 13 times. With seventeen turnovers and the same number of fouls, the College looked a tired, beaten side. A fourteen-minute spell without a score spelled danger for the underperforming Cork side, with Robbie McAllister twice denied a pivotal goal by Foley. Daniel O’Mahony was a colossus for the College at the back, but the game was well and truly in the melting pot. Only for a heart-stopping tackle by Na Gaeil’s Damian Bourke, there could have been a third consecutive extra-time. At the final whistle, UCC were the ones into the final. There didn’t follow the jubilation that would usually come with reaching an All-Ireland Final though, because everyone knew that a similar performance against UL would simply not be good enough. However, they say semi-finals are for winning, no matter how you get the job done. A final in SETU Waterford was waiting and UCC would be marked underdogs.
The rain-soaked and wind-swept showdown had all the hallmarks of a classic encounter. UL took the lead early on, before a fortunate mis-kick from Catháil O’ Mahony found the fist of Dylan Geaney for the game’s first and only goal. Mark Cronin could have delivered a second inside the first five minutes, but his effort clipped the outside of the post. UCC were guilty of some lazy tackling in the opening fifteen minutes but the challenging wind put pressure on the UL free-takers keeping the College in the driving seat. UCC went thirteen minutes of the first half without a score, before O' Mahony, Falvey and Herlihy all pointed from play, with Geaney and Cronin on target from placed balls. A half time lead of two points was less than full value for their lively performance, and with a gale against them in the second half it was inevitable that UL would come out fighting. From the 35th minute on, the Limerick side countered UCC’s early three-point blitz with seven of their own. For a fifteen-minute spell, UCC failed to score once, and there was a feeling in the stadium that UL’s purple patch would be enough. Write off this UCC team at your peril.
Points from Geaney, Cronin and Mahony gave UCC the lead once more, before a Jack Coyne effort tied things once more. The bodies were tiring at this stage, with the situation so dire even the UCC Express Sports Editor himself had to be thrown onto the pitch (Who’d have thought? Not me). Substitute Michael O’Gara of Austin Stacks looked to have delivered the killer blow, but Millstreet’s Darragh Cashman held his nerve to take the game to extra time for the third time in four games. UCC would have to go to the well again to win their 24th Sigerson Cup. Having lost the toss, the College would be playing against the powerful breeze in the first half. You wouldn’t have thought it watching the game, as scores from Herlihy, Tipperary senior Sean O'Connor and Mark Cronin gave the college a two-point lead going into half time of extra time. With the wind at their backs for the second half, they defended in packs, making a series of incredible interceptions and tackles. Geaney tapped over a free in the only score of the last ten, with UL failing to find any way to break down the UCC defence, and their long wait would go on for a first Sigerson title. When referee Sean Hurson blew the final whistle there were scenes of utter jubilation from the boys in the skull and crossbones.
The great Billy Morgan fell to his knees in front of the stand, overcome with the emotion of such an unlikely title. He was quickly swarmed by his management team of Brian Cuthbert, Charlie McLoughlin, John Grainger, Mick Reynolds and 1995 Sigerson winning captain Paul O’Keefe. The players were hugging friends, families and teammates, chanting and beaming with pride. Anyone who watched the game live on TG4 or were in Waterford for the win could see just how much it meant to these young men.
In his speech, captain Jack Murphy spoke of the 50 odd players who had played a part in the team over the course of the year, and of just how much it means to keep the tradition of UCC football alive. While Mark Cronin was awarded the TG4 Man of the Match, it could have gone to any UCC player.
The lads celebrated their win with a tour of West Kerry, made all the sweeter with George Sigerson in tow. What a team. And as Killian Falvey tweeted on Wednesday night, “What a win.”
