THERE WAS DELIGHT for the Donegal contingent at Dublin City University following their dramatic win in the Corn Daithi Billings final at Croke Park this afternoon.
Conor Morrison and Michael Miller from St Eunan’s and Daniel Gallagher of Naomh Ultan featured in their 3-11 to 3-10 victory over University College Dublin in the Freshers A championship final at GAA HQ – the first time since the late 1980’s the competition concluded at Croke Park.
Joe McBrearty from Killybegs is part of the backroom team with Michael McConalogue doing statistics.
Photo caption: Conor Morrison, Michael Miller and Daniel Gallagher of DCU with the Corn Daithi Billings at Croke Park this afternoon
In a dramatic finish, UCD, who trailed by eight points with eight minutes to go, scored two late goals and a point – with corner-back Morrison black-carded for DCU in the last minute.
However, DCU held on for a famous win by a single point, which completes their double for the northside university, as they had won the Freshers A All-Ireland League with a 4-11 to 1-6 win over University of Ulster Jordanstown in December.
DCU’s first score was a goal from Ronan Jones on just four minutes following a flowing move. Miller was introduced to the action just before the break. At half-time DCU were 1-6 to 1-4 up with the UCD goal coming through Darragh Lafferty.
UCD got back on terms at 1-7 apiece after the restart but by the 51st minute, DCU looked comfortable with a 3-11 to 1-9 lead following goals from Mayo’s Brian Reape and Rory Feely from Kildare.
UCD made a great fist of it late on and Lafferty and then full-back Cillian O’Shea scored late goals, while Barry McGinn also pointed but DCU held on to win in a nail-biting finale by the slenderest of margins.
