The Sigerson Cup got underway this evening, with a number of intriguing fixtures taking place throughout the country.
The pick of the games looked likely to come in the form of a Belfast derby, with Queen's University taking on Ulster University at The Dub.
Meeting for the first time in this competition for 12 years, there were plenty of bragging rights at stake to go along with a place in the next round.
With 2021 All-Ireland winner Darragh Canavan in their ranks and a number of other talented players, many saw UUJ as the favourites for the game. It was a close fought contest throughout, with some excellent scores produced by both sides in the first half.
2023 Sigerson Cup underway with the battle of Belfast taking place.
UUJ v Queens
Live stream on GAA Higher Education @UlsterUniGAA @HigherEdGAA @QueensGAA
*A few clips here from the first half. pic.twitter.com/F3qSxynM9h— The GAA Corner (@thegaacorner) January 10, 2023
It was Ulster University that had the better of the going early on in the contest, finding themselves up by four points at one stage. They looked like the more organised outfit and made better use of their opportunities.
However, Queen's seemed to grow into the game as it went on. It was them who looked the stronger in the final ten minutes, carrying a two-point lead into injury time.
While Ulster University would manage to cut that gap to the minimum, Queen's would ultimately emerge as 1-12 to 1-11 winners. Ulster university midfielder Tiernan Bogue was named as man-of-the-match on the HE GAA stream of the game, with over 4,000 devices viewing the closing stages of the fixture online.
Elsewhere, DCU ran out as comfortable winners over ATU Donegal on a scoreline of 4-16 to 1-7, while UCD were 2-11 to 0-13 winners over MTU Cork.
In the final fixture of the evening, St Mary's University overcame SETU Carlow on a scoreline of 0-17 to 0-8.
Tomorrow evening will see four more games take place in the first round of the Sigerson Cup, starting with UCC vs UL at 7pm, with defending champions University of Galway taking on Maynooth.
SEE ALSO: 11 Players To Watch Out For In The 2023 Sigerson Cup
