UCC 0-9 St Mary's Belfast 0-7: University College Cork progressed to the quarter-finals of the Sigerson Cup yesterday after a hard-fought encounter with St Mary's at Portlaoise.

The opening quarter produced just a single point - from Cork's Fintan Gould in the 12th minute. James Lavery soon had the sides level but the Ulster side were dealt a cruel blow when Tyrone's Joe McMahon had to retired injured after 15 minutes.

Nevertheless, the Belfast side held their own and a point from corner forward Damien McCann had the sides level again, before points from Jonathan Hayes and Fintan Gould gave Cork a 0-4 to 0-2 lead at the interval.

After the restart Kerry's Donnacha Walsh stretched UCC's lead and Robert Hussey - another Kerryman - added another point, before St Mary's replied through Mark Donnelly, Leo Meenan and Aidan McCarron. Robert Hussey and Michael McIvor exchanged points to leave UCC leading by a point with 15 minutes remaining.

Leo Meenan levelled matters but Fintan Gould regained the lead for UCC with 10 minutes remaining and an excellent point from play by Walsh won the game for the Niall Cahalane-trained side.

UCC: D McInerney; N Donovan, F Griffin, D O'Donovan; G Burke, C O'Connell, J Wycherly; D Meegan, P Kelly; F Gould (0-3), J Hayes (0-1), C McCarthy; R Hussey (0-3), D Walsh (0-2), L O'Lionnan. Subs: W Morgan for P Kelly, P Galvin for R Hussey, C Brosnan for J Hayes.

ST MARY'S BELFAST: K Murray; C McAleer, F Donnelly, T Hackett; T O'Neill, J McMahon, M McIvor (0-1); D Gordon, J Lavery (0-1); L O'Hare, L Meenan (0-2), M Donnelly; D McCann (0-1), A McCarron (0-2), G Smyth. Subs: J Ball for J McMahon, P Quinn for D McCann.

Referee: E Whelan (Laois).