UCC ready to build on season of success

UCC will be ready to apply for planning permission for their new sporting facilities in the autumn as the college looks to build on the incredible success achieved on the field over the last year.

In February, the college announced plans to develop the new sports campus on part of an eight-acre UCC-owned land bank at Curraheen, next to the Munster Agricultural Society showgrounds site, and they hope to be ready to take the next step in this development in the next few months.

“Our facilities have served us well down through the years, but we’re growing rapidly,” said Morgan Buckley, UCC’s director of sport and physical activity.

“We have 15 GAA teams, 11 soccer teams, nine hockey teams, we’ve six rugby teams, and we don’t have the space to cater for them all.”

“Our plan is to develop a new UCC sports park out of Curraheen. We are working very hard on those plans at the moment. It’s going to take some time. We have a challenge to accommodate everyone where we are at the moment until the new facilities come in place. We have put a transition plan in place to try and cater for as many of the teams [as possible] so that everybody will have the opportunity to play.

Federation of Irish Sport chief executive Mary O’Connor makes a presentation to rowing stars Paul O’Donovan and Emily Hegarty.

“[We are currently] drawing up the detailed plans — we’ve got design teams in place,” he added.

We are looking at all the finances, we are working closely with the college authorities, Cork City Council — we hope to go for planning in the autumn.

Buckley was speaking as the college honoured some of its sporting stars who have helped make this academic year a historic one for the Leeside university.

So good was the on-field action for those wearing the skull and crossbones, that there was a three-way tie for the prestigious Team of the Year award, with the hurlers, footballers, and soccer teams all being honoured.

“We were reviewing the awards and it wasn’t easy,” he said, adding that 13 people were also being honoured.

“It’s an incredible success, it highlights the talent that’s around,” Buckley said.

“We are lucky that we have got really dedicated athletes that are really committed to their sport. We’ve got great coaches supporting them and we’ve had fantastic success in a wide range of sports.

Federation of Irish Sport chief executive Mary O’Connor with award winners in hurling, football, and soccer at the UCC Sports Star Awards in the River Lee Hotel, Cork, after there was a three-way tie for the prestigious Team of the Year award.

“It is a unique treble. We’ve had teams that have won in a lot of sports but there’s something special about the Collingwood, the Sigerson, and the Fitzgibbon. We felt they should all be recognised.”

The Sigerson-Fitzgibbon GAA double, the first in 31 years, ensured that four of the 13 individuals given UCC Sport Star awards were on the GAA teams.

“That epitomises the work the college are doing, especially [GAA Development Officer] John Grainger,” said Sigerson Cup winning captain and Cork senior Cian Kiely.

“He is doing serious work promoting GAA in the college. If nothing else, he deserves the awards and he deserves the wins because it reflects perfectly on him.”

UCC Sport Star award winners: Chloe Sigerson (camogie); Sean O’Shea (Gaelic football); Cian Kiely (Gaelic football); Shane Conway (hurling); Chris O’Leary (hurling); Eimear Meaney (ladies football); Hannah Humphries (hockey); Mary Fitzgerald (parathletics); Emily Hegarty (rowing); Paul O’Donovan (rowing); James Taylor (rugby); John Hodnett (rugby); Rob Slevin (soccer).

Team of the year: Senior hurlers, senior footballers, senior soccer (joint winners)

Kieran Dowd Special Achievement Award: Kevin Quinlan, UCC Squash Club coach