While traded scores between St Mary’s attacker Callum Lagan and Jordan Morris ensured there was little to separate the teams in the early exchanges, a quick 1-1 salvo from midfielder Cian McBride helped TU Dublin to assert their authority on the game.
Mary’s were firmly back in contention when McKenna rifled a penalty to the net on the first-quarter mark, only for TU Dublin to respond immediately with a spot kick finish of their own from Jack Lundy.
The Dublin hosts were playing with great confidence and went on to bag a third goal when full-forward Conor Fee fired home from close-range.
Although Seán Rock shook the net at the end of the opening period to leave the Belfast-based Mary’s just five points adrift (3-5 to 2-3), TU Dublin had the luxury of introducing established Dublin star Colm Basquel off the bench in the second half.
His fellow substitutes Seán Jones and Ollie Brooks also made strong impacts upon entering the fray and with Morris in fine form throughout the course of the action, they largely kept their Ulster counterparts at arm’s length.
McKenna did bring his personal haul up to 2-7 with a goal from a free deep into stoppage-time, but Mary’s ultimately fell short and will now face into a round-three encounter against the winner of a Round 2B clash.
Scorers – TU Dublin: J Morris 0-7 (2f, 1m), C McBride 1-1, J Lundy 1-0 (pen), C Fee 1-0, S Jones 0-3, S Hanafin 0-2, O Brooks 0-1. St Mary’s University College: N McKenna 2-7 (1-5f, 1-0 pen), S Rock 1-2 (0-1f), C Lagan, F O’Brien 0-1 each.
TU Dublin: J Rodgers; C Reilly, M Nolan, N Carolan; D Fee, C McGeough, J Prendergast; C McBride, S Hanafin; D Rooney, J Lundy, D McCartan; J Morris, C Fee, S Reynolds. Subs: S Jones for Rooney (h-t), C Basquel for Reynolds (34), O Brooks for Fee (44), D Lovett for McCartan (57), D Finneran for Lundy (62).
St Mary’s University College: S Magill; J Donnelly, F Murdock, M McCallan; D Haigney, M Hynes, F O’Brien; D Treanor, S Quigley; D Mooney, S O’Donnell, S Rock; N McKenna, C Lagan, D Loye. Subs: N Burns for McCallan (44), C Reavey for Hynes (49), C Burns for Mooney, S Rooney for Quigley, C Walsh for Treanor (all 58).
Referee: C Dourneen (Cavan).
