Sigerson Cup: UCC and UL set for finale

The Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup campaign that began for UCC with defeat to UL over a month ago will climax with a rematch between the same two teams.

Yet exactly which outfit has pulled off the more impressive achievement by reaching the third level final at the SETU Waterford Arena is hard to say.

Take UCC for starters; from their five games in the competition they lost one of them and, quite remarkably, were level at full-time in two of the other matches.

At several points throughout the campaign they have looked a busted flush, a spent docket but, somehow, here they are, the survivors of two-penalty shoot-outs and that early defeat to UL.

Cork senior Cathail O'Mahony has been central to their revival, coming off the bench and striking four points in their Round 3 win over Queens and then striking 1-03 against St Mary's in the quarter-finals. Those were the two games that went to penalties and former All-Ireland U-20 winner converted from the spot in each of those encounters.

O'Mahony's six-point haul was vital later in the semi-final defeat of TU Dublin but, typically, that was a narrow win too.

UCC's two Dylans, goalkeeper Dylan Foley and attacker Dylan Geaney, have played important roles along the way too as has Nemo Rangers man Mark Cronin, another former Under-20 star for Cork.

A year on from an agonising final defeat to NUI Galway, UL deserve huge credit too for navigating their way back to the decider.

They also had to overcome an early defeat in the competition, losing a high-scoring encounter against TU Dublin back at the Round 2A stage.

Since then they have taken down SETU Carlow, gained revenge on University of Galway (former NUI Galway) and beaten many people's tournament favourites DCU in the last four. Across