Monday night saw the launch of this year’s Centenary Ashbourne Cup in the GAA Museum in Croke Park. This is a historic year for the national college competition as it celebrates 100 years in existence.
Hailed as the very first national camogie competition, 1915 saw the birth of the Ashbourne Cup when Dr. Agnes O’Farrelly and the UCD Camogie Club responded to the challenge of UCC with William Gibson, Lord Ashbourne, donating the trophy in his name. Limited to three teams (UCD, UCC and UCG) until 1934 and four teams with the addition of QUB until 1972, the founders of this historic competition would have been proud to see that in its centenary year, the Ashbourne Cup 2015 plays host to 16 teams from around the country and boasts an incredibly high standard of camogie.
The launch of the Ashbourne Cup 2015 was attended by the Camogie Association’s president Aileen Lawlor and Ard Stiúrthóir Joan O’Flynn as well as CCAO president Shane Darcy and a number of players from the highly decorated UCD Camogie Club, DIT and this year’s hosts DCU. In addition, the launch was also attended by former Camogie Association president (1979-1983) Mary Moran; author of the newly released '100 years of Ashbourne Cup'. Also in attendance was Brídín Uí Mhaolagáin, former president of the CCAO (1977-1981) and the Camogie Association (1991-1994), and five time winner of the Ashbourne Cup with UCD (1958-1962). Brídín kindly donated three of her Ashbourne medals to the museum and a member of Agnes O’Farrelly’s family donated a portrait of the woman who played a pivotal role in the formation of the Ashbourne Cup and for the game of Camogie.
