ST Mary’s University College go into the Sigerson Cup back-door after falling to TU Dublin, going down 2-11 to 2-7 in Darver on Wednesday night.
Antrim’s Cormac McGettigan got the Ranch up and running with a sweet strike off the outside of the boot, and it proved hard to separate the sides in the first half, TU going in at the break a point ahead, 0-4 to 0-3.
However, the Dublin students pulled away with an unanswered 2-2 in the 10 minutes after the restart to leave St Mary’s with a major mountain to climb.
TU led by 11 heading into the final five minutes before the Ranch pulled back two late goals as they carried the fight until the end, and next week they enter the last chance saloon.
Also in the qualifier mix are Ulster University after their 1-13 to 0-8 defeat at the hands of University College Dublin in Belfield on Tuesday night.
Indeed, UCD played the majority of the game with 14 players following the dismissal of captain Kieran Kennedy 22 minutes in and, with the wind at the backs, built up a four point first half lead despite the efforts of Errigal Ciaran pair Ruairi Canavan and Peter Og McCartan.
UU bagged the first three scores of the first half to narrow the gap to the minimum, only for the Dublin students to rediscover their mojo, Donncha Gilmore’s late goal putting the seal on an impressive night’s work.
Queen’s won their second game in succession, Luke Donnelly scoring five points in their 1-14 to 1-10 win over TUS Midlands on Tuesday
Elsewhere on Wednesday night, DCU sealed their progress to round three with a three point win over SETU Carlow.
DCU led by eight points early in the second half, and looked to be cruising across the line, only for a goal by substitute Fionn Cooke and superb scores from Adam Steed and Cian Farrell to give SETU Carlow hope.
Yet it wasn’t enough in the end, even though DCU finished with 13 men after added time black cards for Páraic Hughes and Joseph Hagan.
Earlier in the day, University College Cork blew away ATU Galway with a goal-laden performance, running out easy 9-21 to 3-6 winners.
Determined to bounce back from the previous week’s opening defeat to Ulster University, UCC made a statement of intent in the first half hour as they moved into a 3-8 to no score lead.
Indeed, had it not been for ATU Galway goalkeeper Andrew Power, the damage could have been much greater as they offered little threat to UCC from the outset.
Round two results
Queen’s University, Belfast 1-14 TUS Midlands 1-10
TU Dublin 2-11 St Mary’s University College 2-7
University College, Dublin 1-13 Ulster University 0-8
Maynooth University 0-7 University of Limerick 0-8
SETU Carlow 2-8 DCU Dochas Eireann 1-14
University College, Cork 9-21 ATU Galway 3-6
University of Galway 0-14 ATU Sligo 0-6
MTU Cork 3-20 ATU Donegal 1-14 (AET)