Reigning champions TU Dublin may no longer be unknowns but can last season’s giant-killing underdogs replicate that victory?
That is the burning question ahead of the Electric Ireland Ashbourne Cup weekend which TUD won so dramatically last year by pipping UCC deep in extra-time in one of the biggest shocks in third level camogie’s 106-year history.
Winning their maiden ‘Ashbourne’ just a year after winning the Purcell Cup only magnified TUD’s achievement. It was truly the stuff of dreams for the relative minnows led by Antrim ace Roisín McCormick, Westmeath dual star Megan Dowdall and Dublin lynchpin Niamh Gannon, managed by Tipperary’s Bill McCormack. This year’s comprehensive quarter-final victory over MTU Cork underlined their ambitions to retain it but with success comes extra pressure, he stresses:
“We’ve lost the surprise element and being back-to-back champions of two competitions brings its own challenges and expectations too so it’s a case of managing all of that and staying in the present,”
Last year’s nail-biting decider will be long remembered, not least because the late equaliser and winner were heroically clinched by a striker playing on one wing. McCormack recalls:
“Roisín (McCormick) had a broken elbow. We didn’t know it at the time, she injured it in the semi-final, We looked dead and buried in normal time and came back. In extra-time we looked like we had it won before a few mishaps. Then the ref gave us a last-minute free and Roisín put it over. It was amazing.”
McCormack, a primary school teacher in Ashtown, has provided continuity for several years but he insists others have contributed just as much to TUD’s breakthrough, crediting the college’s GAA officers Darragh Biddlecombe and Lar O’Brien and the identity provided by its unifying move to the Grangegorman campus.
They’ve since lost a defensive anchor in Gannon and this year’s semi-finals, in the novel indoor venue of the University of Galway Connacht Air Dome, pits them against his alma-DCU who feature a trio of Dicksboro’s All-Ireland winning club team – Asha McHardy, Jane Cass and Rose Kelly – and Wexford’s Ciara O’Connor and Maeve Sinnott.
“We played DCU in the group stages and lost by a point. The talent across all four teams this weekend is of the highest level. If you took 15 out of them you’d probably beat most inter-county teams out the gate,” he says, a view shared by UCC boss Jerry Wallace.
He's part of their new-look management that includes fellow-luminaries in Donal O’Grady and three-time All Star Cathriona Foley and UCC have noticeably beaten TUD twice this season, including the league final.
“The standard is massive. Each college has got stronger as the season progressed. We all sparred against each other in the league and the group stages so there’s only going to be a puck of a ball between any of us. There’s going to have to be a bit of magic out of someone to win this.”
Last year’s beaten finalists have a host of Cork players led by Meabh and Emma Murphy, Aoife Healy and Clodagh Finn and other county stars in Tipperary’s Eimear Heffernan, Waterford centre-back Clodagh Carroll and Limerick’s Liz Anna Boylan, Orlaith Kelliher and Sarah O’Brien.
They face a University of Limerick side led by another Tipp ace Eimear McGrath, Kilkenny goalkeeper Sinead Farrell and Clare’s Caoimhe Cahill. UL noticeably racked up 3-14 against SETU Waterford last time out and look hell bent on avenging their controversial late omission from this stage last year after a scoring mix-up.
FIXTURES
Ashbourne Cup
Semi-Final Pairings – Saturday 10th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- University College Cork (UCC) vs University of Limerick (UL) @2pm
- Dublin City University (DCU) vs Technological University Dublin (TUD) @4PM
Ashbourne Cup Final – Sunday 11th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- SF Winner 1 vs SF Winner 2 @4pm
Purcell Cup
Semi-Final Pairings – Saturday 10th February 2024 at University of Galway Connacht GAA Grass Pitches
- University of Galway (UG) vs Mary I @3PM
- SETU Carlow vs UCC @3PM
Purcell Cup Final – Sunday 11th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- SF Winner 1 vs SF Winner 2 @2pm
Fr. Meaghair Cup
Semi-Final Pairings – Saturday 10th February 2024 at University of Galway Connacht GAA Grass Pitches
- Technological University Dublin (TUD) vs Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) @1pm
- Ulster University Jordanstown (UUJ) vs Dublin City University 2 (DCU) @1pm
Fr. Meaghair Cup Final – Sunday 12th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- SF Winner 1 vs SF Winner 2 @12pm
Uí Mhaolagáin Cup
Semi-Final Pairings
- University Limerick (UL) vs St. Mary’s Belfast – Thursday 8th February, Abbottstown, Dublin @8pm
Uí Mhaolagáin Cup Final – Saturday 10th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- SF Winner 1 vs University of Galway (UG) @6pm
Ashling Murphy Cup
Ashling Murphy Cup Final – Saturday 10th February at University of Galway Connacht GAA Air Dome
- UUM vs Marino @12pm
