David Power hails the strength of his Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup winning squad

UL players celebrate with the cup after their Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final win at Croke Park. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
​By Paul Keane

David Power couldn't help himself from namechecking a few of his star performers during UL's Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final win.

There was Cian McHale for starters, the young Mayo forward who capped an excellent campaign with five points in the Croke Park final win over UCC.

And manager Power, who memorably guided the Tipperary seniors to a landmark Munster title success in 2020 and a Croke Park appearance against Mayo, was won over by goalkeeper Tristan O'Callaghan's impact too.

O'Callaghan, from the St Breckans club in Clare, pulled off no less than four excellent saves over the hour though Power was even more impressed with his laser-like distribution from the tee.

"We only started working on that last Monday night," said Power of their kick out strategy. "It was our only chance really because we were going from game to game. But we had to work on something after Friday night because Queen's really did put us under pressure on the kick outs in our semi final. That paid dividends tonight."

But Power agreed that it was really a victory for the collective, for a panel effort with subs playing key roles throughout their five-game odyssey.

Against Queen's in last week's extra time encounter, for example, four of the last UL points were scored by subs.

"The likes of Micheál Freaney won the game for us against Maynooth," noted Power too. "That's the one thing I've learned about colleges football - you have to have a panel. You can't just rely on 15 players. Every game there has been a different lad who has stood up. I know Cian McHale is getting a lot of the scores but overall it's just been a fantastic achievement for that group of lads."

Power, who is also managing the Tipperary senior ladies team, is only months in the job as UL boss. Early on, they played a Division 1 league game against UCC and won it, a crucial moment for the group in Power's eyes.

"I remember that game against UCC in the League, down at UCC around October, and we beat them," said Power. "We were down a lot of players that night but we showed a lot of character and from that night on I just sensed there was a bit of belief growing.

"Then winning the League was huge. It just gave UL confidence that they could win a competition."

Still, few expected them to go on and win the championship. Even after beating holders DCU and knocking out both Maynooth and Queen's after extra time, they were still many people's underdogs approaching the final.

As it turned out, UCC were never ahead in a game that UL probably should have won by more. The teams were tied four times, including at half time after Ciarán Santry's goal for UCC right on the half hour, but UL never actually fell behind.

"I did feel going in at half time that UCC's goal could have damaged us because I thought it was a fluky enough goal," said Power "I don't think he (Ruairí Murphy) meant to pass across the goal (for Santry). And, like, you're going in at half time, a drawn game, and you're kind of saying, we should have been three or four points up. But we started really well again in the second half and it was a very controlled performance."

UCC manager Paul O'Keeffe was doing his post-match interview just as the party was getting started in the nearby UL dressing-room.

"They (UL) took the bull by the horns and fair play to them," acknowledged O'Keeffe. "That's Sigerson Cup football, you make your own history. I can hear them celebrating there. But look, I spoke to the lads before the game that if you don't perform, that's what you're left with. I presume they (UL) will celebrate all the way home to Limerick tonight and fair play to them."

O'Keeffe felt his side never really got going.

"We never got out of the blocks," he continued. "We spoke about the occasion and all the rest of it but we were slow getting out of the blocks, we gave them a bit of a lead.

"Then at half time we were delighted because we played rubbish in the first half and we were level. You kind of felt, they've had their period of dominance and we were expecting to maybe drive on ourselves but the second half, we had loads of goal chances and just didn't convert. And that hurts you. You have to take those chances.

"On a different day, they go in for you. Looking at the game overall, UL played better than us, they performed and we were just a bit off. We were at 70 percent for most of the game.

"Then towards the last quarter we were chasing it. We had a chance to maybe go level and missed it. Had we got it, I think we might have pushed on and won it but these are all the should have, could have, would haves, typical post-match stuff."