Sigerson Cup 2025: A Season of Commitment, Resilience & Reflection
Sigerson Cup 2025
Eoghan O’ Grady, from the School of MPO is manager of the TU Dublin Men’s Senior GAA Football Team. In the news item below, he reflects on the 2025 campaign.
The first Sigerson Cup campaign was in 1911. Senior Men’s Intervarsity GAA is in fact the second oldest national competition after the GAA inter county championships. 16 universities competed in 2025 and the championship comprised 27 matches played across 37 days in 21 venues from Letterkenny to Waterford and from Belfast to Tralee.
In the immediate aftermath of exit from the Sigerson campaign, management and players across those fifteen universities who did not come out on top encounter uninvited and unwelcome questions. All around “what could and should we have done differently?” Answering these questions is part of the recovery process. Once the dust has settled somewhat, and everyone looks to move on, answering these questions become a critical part of the preparation for next time.
TU Dublin lost the Semi-Final against UCD.
A loss that came by way of a penalty shoot-out after 20 minutes of extra time failed to separate the teams. The only penalty shoot-out across the 37 matches. A penalty shoot-out that went to sudden death. A very tough loss after five months of preparation. Everything from training sessions to matches – TU Dublin played 17 matches across Ryan Cup league, challenge matches and Sigerson Cup over 20 weeks and this figure is no doubt similar for all other universities - team meetings to video analyses, whatsapp messaging to one-to one conversations with management and negotiations with club and county managers. All while trying to avoid injury, burnout, holding down part time jobs and of course attending class, meeting assessment submission deadlines and preparing for exams.
The support of colleagues across all faculties and campuses is so very important and much appreciated. From the President Dr. Deirdre Lillis who attended both the quarter final and semi final to all those in the Sports, Societies and Student Life Office especially Christy O’ Shea and Niamh O’ Callaghan. Darragh Biddleceombe, Lar O’ Brien and especially the wonderful Gerry Anderson in the GAA Club. The members of the management team who committed countless hours working with the panel. The academic mentors who helped the players manage their studies while representing the University on the sports field. And indeed all the lecturers who supported this extracurricular activity for instance in understanding absence from class and in granting extensions to submission deadlines etc. Thank you all.
TU Dublin lost and were devastated. UCD won and were elated. But gracious in victory. When their players commiserated with TU Dublin players after the final penalty and when I congratulated them in their dressing room, a small sense of guilt at the way in which the match was settled was palpable. They knew how much effort TU Dublin had put in to reach the semi final. Because they had put in similar effort. And also because they felt the pain of their club and county team mates on the TU Dublin panel.
It’s not easy to be philosophical after losing in this way. Much better to celebrate a win and look forward to one final week together in the lead up to the Final. But as so eloquently put by Dave Billings, who ran the GAA Club in UCD for more than two decades, in an article to commemorate the centenary of the Sigerson Cup: “The Sigerson Cup is more about memories than medals. Long after student days are over the mention of the Sigerson Cup recaptures the days of our youth, of team mates who you would die for on the field and they for you. In these memories, we stay eternally young. Time moves on, of course, but in the mind, it is not the grey haired middle aged man that you see in front of you; rather it is the dashing, young athletic man in his prime, on the field of play.”
Seeing up close the time and effort our students put into this particular inter varsity competition – a commitment and dedication matched across all our sports clubs - and their wearing of the TU Dublin jersey with such pride is humbling. The benefits of Clubs and Societies to students and to the university are myriad and clear. Including the building of teamwork and leadership skills, the development of discipline and time management skills, the fostering of social connections beyond class cohort to across programmes, faculties and campuses and the development of resilience. The players although so disappointed after that penalty shootout loss are resilient. They will bounce back. Roll on Sigerson 2026. TU Dublin abú.