2022/23 Student Sport Ireland/IRFU Cup Finals Results Round-Up

There were six games down for decision on a bumper day of third-level rugby at UCC. The Men’s and Women’s Tier 1 Cup finals can be watched in full below.

Wednesday March 14th 2023

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Women’s Tier 1 Cup Final:

DCU 7 UCD 5, The Mardyke, UCC

DCU are SSI/IRFU Women’s Tier 1 Cup champions for 2022/23 after a gripping finale against Dublin rivals UCD. Amid worsening conditions, they came back from a 5-0 deficit at half time through a Caoimhne Guinan try and a vital  Grace Mahon conversion.

“It was some fight,” said winning captain Kate Jordan. “It’s always very close with UCD and we were lucky to pull it off this year. We’ve a great team with huge numbers training and we put our heart and souls into tonight.

“We’ve seven final years on this team, including myself. We gave it everything. We’re delighted to get the win.”

Scorers: UCD: Try: Emma Kelly

DCU: Try: Caoimhne Guinan; Con: Grace Mahon

HT: UCD 5 DCU 0

DCU: Kathryn Dempsey, Emma Tilly, Aileen Nagle, Nikki Gibson, Andrew McGlynn; Grace Mahon, Alice Carroll; Emily Jo White, Aoife Brennan, Emily Whittle, Saoirse Creighton, Caoimhne Guinan, Meave Cole, Abbie Gibney, Kate Jordan. Replacements: Kara Mulcahy, Albha Oman, Sophie Treanor, Evelyn O’Driscoll, Lucy Egan, Siafria Ni Bhfriun, Molly Coulter, Evie Daly, Anna Hillard, Emma McCabe.

UCD: Cliodhna O’Sullivan, Tara Hegarty, Alaïs Diebold, Éadaoin Murtagh, Katie Hogan; Emma Kelly, Alannah Boyle, Grace Fennell, Wren Higgins, Eimear Douglas, Rachel Winters, Siobhán Boyle, Anna Kavanagh, Ally Cullivan, Haley Morgan. Replacements: Hannah Rapley, Aimèe Breen, Aibidh Ni Mháille, Aine Corbally, Evelyn Donnelly, Ella Kavanagh, Christine Coffey.

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Brendan Johnston Cup Final (Men’s Tier 1):

South East Technological University Carlow 20 DCU 17, The Mardyke

SETU Carlow edged out DCU 20-17 to claim the Brendan Johnston Cup in a thrilling SSI/IRFU Men’s Tier 1 Cup final at the Mardyke.

Defending champions DCU trailed 17-0 before roaring back into contention and levelling the game after 56 minutes. SETU Carlow edged back in front with a penalty on the hour mark and held out for the win.

Winning captain Michael O’Brien admitted that their agonising defeat to the same opposition in 2022 was a big motivating factor.

“There’s massive relief there”, he told IrishRugby.ie. “It’s all we’ve been thinking about for the last year and we’re over the moon. We found it hard to keep the ball in the second half.

“It was definitely touch and go. Credit to the boys, we kicked well, controlled what we could, held out and got the win in the end.”

Scorers: SETU Carlow: Tries: Sean Quinlan, Michael O’Brien, Corey Hughes; Pen: Adam Johnson; Cons: Dylan O’Keefe

DCU: Try: Daniel Leane; David Dowse 2; Con: Senan Hogan

HT: SETU Carlow 17 DCU 7

DCU: Senan Hogan, Luke Bryan, Conor Gibney, Stefan Bors, Michael Callaghan; Shane McGuinness, Eoin Dawson; Darragh Walsh, David Dowse, Cian Connolly, Callum Cawley, Jakub Tarnawski, Sean Casey (c), Sean Cronin, Daniel Leane. Replacements: Diarmuid Long, Cian Russell, Oscar Hunt-Quinn, James Horgan, Matteo Cardiff, Sebastien Mouiemme, Ben Crotty, Guillerme Neto.

SETU CARLOW: Adam Johnson, Scott O’Sullivan, Sean Quinlan, Sam Cullen, Killian Creed; Dylan O’Keefe, Conor Halpenny; Oluwamayomikun Ominiwa, Corey Hughes, Gavin Redmond, Jonah O’Keefe, Dalibor Kolar, Mark Kelly, Michael O’Brien, Jamie Kavanagh. Replacements: Daniel Cullenton, Rhys Roberts, Niall Finnegan, Sam Dunne, Richard Brophy, Billy Fitzpatrick, Jack Fitzgerald Rodgers, Kristian Jocker, Ewan Mc Gabhann.

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Men’s Tier 2 Cup Final:

UCC 20 ATU GALWAY 0, The Mardyke

Scorers: UCC: Tries: Barry Scott, Ben McEnery; Pens: Adam O’Brien 2; Cons:Adam O’Brien 2

HT: UCC 10 ATU Galway 0

It was double delight for UCC on SSI/IRFU Cup Finals day as their men’s and women’s sides claimed Tier 2 victories. The Bulldogs were 20-0 winners over ATU Galway at the Mardyke.

“What a buzz,” said men’s captain Darragh Molloy. “We’ve been playing games throughout the season and it’s incredible to have a trophy at the end of it.

We’ve got over 30 out at every training session and it was a real test today but the boys showed up. The 150th Anniversary is important for us so we had to leave it all out on the pitch.

UCC: Niall Smith, Glen Culbert, Andrew Geaney O’Brien, Eoin Bohane, Nathan McAuliffe; Adam O’Brien, Ronan Bohane; Paul O’Halloran, Darragh Molloy, Matthew Sweeney, Ivor Larkin, Valentin Mathieu, Cian Walsh, Barry Scott, Ben McEnery. Replacements: Jason Murphy, Jack Appelbe, Bevan Forde, Sean Malone, Patrick Colan-O’Leary, Max Scanlon, Mark O’Connor.

ATU GALWAY: Ronan Bleakley, Ben Speares, Alexander Blyth, Nick Cusack, Dale Watson; Lorcan Gay, Naoise O’Loughlin; James Michael Quinn, Hiram Hennessy, Emmanuel Oifoh, Matthew McNabola, Denis Campbell, Ciarán McCormack, Mark McHugh, Ronan Connelly. Replacements: Eoin Meegan, Padraig Mallon, Cathal Ryan, Seamus O’Maoilchiarain, Eoin O’Meara, Peadar McTavish, Eoin Gilsenan.

More To Follow…

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Women’s Tier 2 Cup Final:

UCC 36 UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY 5, The Mardyke

UCC claimed the SSI/IRFU Women’s Tier 2 Cup with a 36-5 win over University of Galway at The Mardyke.

The tournament hosts had players from Ballincollig’s Energia All-Ireland League side to call upon and it was recent Munster cap Heather Kennedy who caught the eye with her try scoring performance.

UCC Head Coach Mairead Kelly said: “With a final at home, you don’t want to be losing.”

“It was a great squad effort and there was a lot of competition to get on the team sheet. We’ve been building over the last two years with this bunch and thankfully we’re not looking at two much transition for next season.

“They really are improving year on year.”

Scorers: UCC: Tries: Heather Kennedy 4; Cons: Kate Scully 2; Alison Kelly

University Of Galway: Rochelle Connolly

HT: UCC 19 University Of Galway 0

UCC: Ruth Ferguson, Anna Crowley, Heather Kennedy, Alison Kelly, Beth Hayes; Kate Scully, Theresa O’Sullivan, Elisa Fenton, Saoirse Kennedy, Mara Bittmann, Nicola Akande, Leah O’Donovan, Clare Beasley, Rebecca O’Flynn, Eva O’Sullivan. Replacements: Kira Fitzgerald, Jen Murphy, Ciara Higgins, Meabh Desmond, Sarah Larkin, Leticia Whelan-Thomas, Annica O’Connor.

UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY: Mary Williams, Tara Fenton, Eva Phelan, Elizabeth O’Shea, Rochelle Connolly; Caoimhe Geraghty, Alice Mulhall; Jasmine Morgan, Molly Agar, Ruth White, Clodagh O’Sullivan, Kate O’Meara, Aisling Hahessy, Emer Cafferkey, Alana Roche. Replacements: Miriam Finnegan, Ava Graham, Eve Tarpey, Caoimhe Claffey, Charlotte Miller, Laura Rooney, Éabha Bracken O’Brien.

More To Follow…

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Men’s Tier 3 Cup Final:

ULSTER UNIVERSITY BELFAST 22 ATU SLIGO 19, Curragheen Sport Grounds

ULSTER UNIVERSITY BELFAST: Callum Hull, Mark Cusick, Dylan Wright, Bryn McCullen, Efan Hoogendoorn,; Tom McKee, Zak Reynolds; Andrew Smyth, Ethan McGarry, Hugh Totten, Daire Mort, Craig Devenny, Morgan Bird, James Kelly, John Fitzmaurice. Replacements: Oisin Martin, Same Green, Joe Lyle Hall, Lochlann Mulhall, Matthew McClure, Owen Surgnor, George Liam Karrigiannis.

ATU SLIGO: Sean Gilvarry, Eldar Voskitrov, Louis McVitty , Colm Wall, Ewan Douglas; Victor Mitchell, Niall O’Connor;  Oisin Lawley, Sean Jermyn, Alan Thornton, Evin Ballantine, Adam Brady , Aidan Gaillingh, Brendan Eason, Ben Hynes (C). Replacements: Ethan Slaine, Donnacha O’Malley, Gary Kenny, Conor Mangan, Caolan Ryan, Adam Soden.

Student Sport Ireland / IRFU Women’s Tier 3 Cup Final:

MTU CORK 50 TUS MIDWEST 5, Curragheen Sports Grounds

2023 saw the Tier 3 Women’s Cup being played for the first time and it was MTU Cork who came out top with a 50-5 win over TUS Midwest.

Speaking after the game, MTU Cork Captain Emma Beamish told IrishRugby.ie: We’ve been building towards this, slowly building our numbers and progressing through the rounds.

“Having the cup to train towards made a massive difference. We were nervous enough at the start of the game but we grew into it and now we get to say we’re All-Ireland champions.”

MTU CORK: Jasmine Kiely, Ailish Dunne, Kara Scannell, Emma Connolly, Rebecca O’Sullivan; Kate O’Sullivan, Sadhbh O’Connor; Candela Cusnaider, Emma Beamish, Laura Kennedy, Aisling Evans, Chloe Travers, Clea Michel, Ciona Cronin, Siobhan McKenna. Replacements: Lauren Murphy, Emily Needham, Kasia Rycharska.

TUS MIDWEST: Oliwia Przekwas, Aoife Carroll, Caitlin Shilling Mullin, Aoife Corbett, Sinead O’Brien; Kate Shanahan, Emily Murphy; Emily Anglim, Luchia McDonagh, Emma Burke, Niamh Coffey, Maria Mullins, Maeve Muldoon, Ciara Grimes, Eimear Fitzgerald. Replacements: Annakate Cournane, Jessie Kelly Morish.