DUBLIN CITY GIRLS SCOOP CUP HONOUR; LADIES FOOTBALL ROUND-UP.

Byline: By JACKIE CAHILL

DUBLIN City University captured the prestigious O'Connor Cup for the first time in the competition's history as they edged out former winners University Limerick in a thrilling final played at Jordanstown on Sunday.

The Ladies Football Colleges' final weekend ended in fitting fashion with a riveting decider as DCU, appearing in their very first final, secured a dramatic 2-11 to 1-13 victory at the home of UUJ.

DCU, coached by former Dublin star Angie McNally, saw off the challenge of last year's winners UUJ in Saturday's semi-final by 2-8 to 0-11 as UL came through on the other side, coming good in another extra-time encounter by 2-14 to 3-7 against Queen's University Belfast.

Fiona O'Connor was the semi-final star for DCU as the goalkeeper saved an injury-time penalty to send her team through to the final while Brona Sheridan also excelled against UUJ.

The newly-crowned champions knew they would face tough opposition from 2007 winners UL in the final but they responded with two first half goals to lead by 2-5 to 0-7 at halftime in a well-attended O'Connor Cup final.

May o star Fiona McHale, who returned from suspension for the UL clash, was fouled in the 15th minute and from the resultant penalty, Dublin's Lyndsey Davey made no mistake.

Three minutes before half-time, Cavan's Roisin O'Keeffe netted DCU's second goal but a crucial goal from Galway native Gillian O'Connor eleven minutes after the restart hauled UL right back into contention.

Points from Geraldine O'Flynn, Fiona Rochford and Eimear Considine levelled the scores at 2-8 to 1-11 at the end of normal time before the sides swapped points in the first period of extratime.

In the second period, Davey and Monaghan's Ciara McAnespie raised white flags to provide a matchwinning platform for DCU, as O'Flynn's response for UL cut the gap to just a single point at the finish.

Davey was the scoring heroine for DCU with a 1-4 haul while the Mc Anespie twins from Monaghan, Ciara and Aoife, also played key roles.

DCU's semi-final victory against UUJ marked a first defeat in 17 months for the hosts and interestingly, the victorious DCU team contained seven Ulster players.

Elsewhere, St Mary's of Belfast are celebrating a very first Lynch Cup success after defeating DIT 4-13 to 2-7 in yesterday's final.

Tyrone's Joeleen Donnelly, who celebrated her 21st birthday last week, landed six points against DIT while Armagh's Sinead Finnegan and Down's Grainne McClean hit two goals each.