DCU see off TUS Midlands to advance to Sigerson Cup quarter-final

After two unimpressive performances in the Sigerson Cup so far this year, DCU finally caught fire in Athlone as they easily cut through TUS Midlands to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

Shane O’Donnell and Ryan Donohoe were the key men up front in the early exchanges, contributing five points between them in the opening quarter, with DCU 0-6 to 0-1 in front at that stage of the game.

Defensively, the north Dublin college were in complete control, as TUS Midlands enjoyed plenty of possession but simply couldn’t find a way to generate good scoring chances.

A series of missed frees further demoralised the midlanders, and by half time Longford’s Joseph Hagan had the first two of his four points on the night, and DCU were 0-12 to 0-1 to the good.

Two local players, Declan Kenny and Kieran Colclough, came off the bench and made a decent impact for TUS Midlands after half time, while Matthew Whittaker and Brandon Kelly each kicked points and got involved in some good attacking moves that generated scores from frees.

However DCU continued to kick some fine scores in the second half, ending the game with ten different scorers from play, while only some excellent work from Jake Shiels in the midlanders’ goal prevented DCU from adding a couple of goals to their tally as well.

SCORERS –DCU: S O’Donnell, J Hagan, R Donohoe (0-1 45) 0-4, P Hughes, M Costello (0-1f), S Walsh (0-1f) 0-2, C Corbett, R Keane, W Shine, D McKeown 0-1.

TUS MIDLANDS: M Gibbons 0-4f, L Marren (0-1f), M Whittaker, B Kelly, D Kenny 0-1.

DCU: C McGuinness; J Grant, S Fitzgerald, B Masterson; R Keane, P Hughes, D Robertson; C Caulfield, R Donohoe; S Jones, S Walsh, J Hagan; S O’Donnell, M Costello, C Corbett.

Subs: C Hughes for Corbett (20), L Deignan for Walsh (38), D McKeown for Donohoe (46), W Shine for O’Donnell (49)

TUS MIDLANDS: J Shiels; D Farrell, D Finlass; D Dempsey; D McVann, C Delaney, A Hughes; S Farrell, J McMahon; B Kelly, J Torpey, M Whitaker; J Dowd, M Gibbons, L Marren.

Subs: K Colclough for McMahon (h-t), D Kenny for Dowd (h-t), O Flynn for Marren (46), C Cassidy for Whittaker (53).

Referee: James Molloy (Galway).

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