Maynooth University vs UCC
SUPPORTERS BUS
Leaving the Phoenix North Campus @ 12.30 on Friday 21st February.
Cost €5pp. To book a place on the bus please contact pamela.lucas@mu.ie , call 01-7086406 or pop over to the sports reception and book your place.
ALL SUPPORT WELCOME
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Preview from www.gaa.ie
UCC v Maynooth, The Dub, Queens, 3.30pm
It’s a measure of the quality of the Maynooth squad, with just one Sigerson Cup title to their name (albeit under the slightly different one of St Patrick’s College), that they will go into their clash with 20-time champions and last year’s runners-up UCC as many observers’ favourites.
The north Kildare outfit secured their place at finals weekend with a scratchy 1-10 to 0-9 defeat of GMIT, with Paddy McBrearty firing 1-3 and Meath’s Eamonn Wallace and Kildare man Paddy Brophy adding three points apiece from play.
That talented trio form just part of an all-star squad – Dublin midfielder Michael Darragh Macauley and his team-mate Eric Lowndes and Kildare duo Mark Donnellan and Paul Cribbin are also part of arguably the most intimidating panel left in the competition.
Prior to the defeat of a GMIT side that had knocked out hosts Queen’s in the previous round, Maynooth had a comfortable 2-19 to 1-5 win over IT Blanchardstown. To underline the potency of their attack, Wallace (0-7), Brophy (0-3) and McBrearty (0-5) hit 15 points from play between them and could cause all sorts of problems for UCC today.
However, getting to grips with the rampant Macauley will probably be UCC’s biggest challenge in Belfast, with the unenviable task falling to their inexperienced midfield pairing of Ian Maguire and David Nation.
However, Billy Morgan’s side could well be the best equipped of the final four teams to put it up to Maynooth. In the semi-finals of the competition for the fifth year running, the Leesiders displayed all their virtues in a 1-13 to 1-5 defeat of CIT in the last round, when giant Tipperary full-forward Michael Quinlivan scored a match-winning 1-4. Quinlivan and Kerry pair Paul Geaney and Michael Cox complete a very strong full-forward line.
UCC are stacked with players at the heart of Brian Cuthbert's rebuilding job with the Cork senior football team, including Conor Dorman, Seán Kiely and Brian O’Driscoll. As always, they have a sprinkling of Kerry talent thrown in for good measure.
With the experience of playing in last year’s final behind them, UCC are no strangers to the particular pressures of playing at the sharp end of the Sigerson Cup. With the wily Morgan guiding them, they have every chance of causing a mild shock and denying Maynooth a place in the final.