Sigerson Cup: And then there was four

The chase begins......

Two days of action, which will be played over February 24-25, will see the cream of the crop from our universities and third level institutions descend upon the campus of NUI Galway in search of prestigious honours.

UCC, the defending champions, are back to try and successfully defend their crown but they face a difficult task. With four teams qualifying for the Friday’s semi-finals the Cork outfit have been paired with NUI Maynooth, while on the other side of the draw 2010 winners DCU will clash with UUJ.

All in all an exciting two days of third-level GAA action awaits and here we preview the four teams that have qualified for the Irish Daily Mail Sigerson Cup weekend.

UCC

How have they got there? As the defending champions UCC were always expected to qualify for the weekend. They began their campaign with a routine victory over GMIT and followed that up with a narrow win over Sligo IT to qualify for the last four.

Who do they play? UCC meet an NUI Maynooth side that has been knocking on the Sigerson door quite heavily over the last number of years and who will be confident of causing an upset.

Star Man: Stylish centre-forward Mark Collins has become a lynchpin of the UCC attack in recent seasons and having featured prominently in Cork’s NFL campaign this year looks set to be one to watch in 2012.

DCU

How have they got there? DCU began their campaign with a hard-earned victory at home to Cork IT and they followed that up with a convincing win over their city rivals DIT.

Who do they play? DCU have been paired up with UUJ in the semi-finals and this meeting looks set to be an enthralling encounter as both sides will fancy their chances.

Star Man: Blessed with attacking talent such as Dublin’s Paul Flynn and Eoghan O’Gara, DCU have an attack that will worry most defences. However, at the back it is Westmeath’s Kieran Gavin that has caught the eye and he will be crucial in thwarting a quality UUJ offence.

NUI Maynooth

How have they got there? Maynooth have had to overcome two stiff challenges already this season. Wins away to Queens and at home to UCD don’t happen by accident and they will fancy their chances of causing another upset.

Who do they play? NUIM will have to overcome the defending champions UCC if they want to make it to the Sigerson decider.

Star Man: Mickey Newman has grabbed the headlines so far for Maynooth and if they are to shock UCC they will need the Meath man firing on all cylinders.

UUJ

How have they got there? UUJ survived a scare in the competition’s opening round against UL and then dug deep to carve out another win over hosts NUIG to confirm their place at the weekend.

Who do they play? The Belfast outfit have been paired with the 2010 champions DCU and although they will be underdogs there is no doubt they will fancy their chances of pulling off a shock.
Star Man: Tyrone’s Mattie Donnelly will be expected to provide the scores for UUJ once again after chipping in with five points in their quarter-final victory over NUI Galway.

It's Sigerson time!

Sigerson First Round Report from Jerome Quinn on Vimeo.

The first week of February normally means only one thing if you are a college student that has any interest in GAA; its championship time.

In my opinion, the Sigerson Cup is arguably the most competitive GAA competition there is on these shores. Before the tournament started this year there would have been eight or nine teams that would all have felt that they were in with a shout of winning it with UCC, DCU, Cork IT, UCD, Maynooth, DIT and UUJ just the first few names that come to mind. I mean, how many other GAA competitions can say that over 50% of the competing teams genuinely feel they can get their hands on the trophy?

Any footballer that plays the game wants to compete at the highest level as often as they can and for me that is the beauty of the Sigerson. Played in February, there is no competition in the country that is played at the same pace and intensity at this time of year.

Through college football you meet new teammates and it’s a nice break-up from the provincial constraints that we have generally been confined to from 16 years of age or so. It’s something different and fresh.

During the week I played with DIT against IT Carlow in the first round of the Sigerson Cup and there was 10 different counties represented in our starting line-up. College football is the only scenario that lets most of us experience anything like that and it opens up the football brain to different ideas, philosophies and styles as well.

Our game on Wednesday was very much a clash of two different styles. We knew coming into the contest it would be difficult as Carlow had only lost to an all conquering UCC side by a point in the league final. We had been pre-warned about their style of play too as they play with 13 men behind the ball and then try to pick off scores on the break, through he likes of Wexford’s Ben Brosnan. As a group it took us a while to adjust to the confined spaces that are left in attack as some of our players would never have come up against such a system before.

To be fair, it nearly worked for them but in the end we were rewarded for our patience and perseverance when Gearoid McKiernan curled over an equaliser just as the fat lady was climbing onto the stage at the end of the second half.

That style of play they chose to play is physically demanding on the legs and in extra-time our forwards thankfully found that extra bit of room to manoeuvre in and Alan Freeman got the ball in the net – just – to help us on our way.

The quarter-finals will see ourselves take on the winners of DCU and Cork IT, NUI Galway play UUJ, IT Sligo take on UCC and NUI Maynooth clash with UCD – all four extremely difficult contests to call.

Most players are out with their counties this weekend as the National League commences but you can be certain that next week all the teams mentioned above will be back on the training field and working hard to get one step closer to a dream.

Championship fever is hard bet at this time of year!