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WIT to host the 2012 CCAO 3rd Level Camogie Finals Weekend
Waterford Institute of Technology have the honour of hosting the 2012 third level colleges’ camogie finals weekend.
A weekend packed full of drama and top class camogie can be expected as the semi final and final matches of the Ashbourne Cup & Shield, Purcell Cup & Shield and Fr. Meaghair Cup & Shield unfolds on the weekend of Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th of February 2012.
This is the first time that the penultimate stages of all three competitions will be hosted over the same weekend and it is a huge honour for the Waterford IT club to act as host.
All 12 games over the weekend will be played in both the state of the art WIT Sports Campus, in Carriganore and in the local De La Salle GAA Club Grounds.
The event will be officially launched on February 6th in Waterford Institute of Technology; the weekend involves all three Third Level Camogie competitions and will bring the top four colleges in each competition together for the semi finals, with the top two playing off for honours in the final.
It is expected with 18 competing colleges that over 550 students will partake in the finals weekend and over 2,500 spectators will attend the games over the weekend.
The hosting of this prestigious weekend of camogie will provide a profile boost for Waterford Institute of Technology on a national level and plans are well underway for the weekend. Those who attend the Ashbourne Cup matches on its respective weekend each year enjoy a well-organised event but few know of the work that needs to be put in behind the scenes in the months before hand. The WIT committee have been working diligently over the past number of months so that the college host a successful and vibrant sporting weekend.
WIT GAA Club have an excellent record of hosting major third level GAA events during its 30-year history, including hosting the Fitzgibbon Cup weekend on three separate occasions; in 1993, 2000 and in 2011 along with the Ashbourne Cup in 2005.
The draw for the Ashbourne Cup was made recently at the CCAO AGM, there are 2 groups of 3 teams and the top 2 from each group proceed to the semi finals.
WIT have been drawn in the proverbial group of death with old rivals University of Limerick as well as an emerging NUI Galway side, so there are sure to be some cracking games in store in the new year. Waterford IT are of course the defending Ashbourne Cup champions, having won a historic third consecutive title last year in Galway against UCC.
WIT have players of the calibre of Katrina Parrock, Katie Power, Denise Gaule, Trish Jackman and Sarah Anne Fitzgerald available this season and know that the other competing colleges have a collection of some of the very best camogie players in the country such as Pamela & Katrina Mackey, Marie O’ Neill and Denise Cronin (all UCC), Lisa & Linda Bolger and Shona Curran (all UL) and Chloe Morrey, Niamh Mc Grath and Michaela Morkan (NUIG) on their books so an intriguing and keenly contested Ashbourne Cup campaign is very much on the cards in 2012.
WIT GAA Club welcomes all camogie followers and lovers of sport to their WIT Sports Campus on the weekend of Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th and the club will be circulating the very latest news, fixtures and reports in the coming weeks. WIT will open their campaign at home to NUIG on Wednesday the 25th of January and on the 1st of February the team travel to Limerick to take on UL. Preparations are well under way and the college team are chomping at the bit for the competitive action as the team pursue, what all WIT supporters hope will be a 6th Ashbourne Cup title.
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