Plenty of Kildare interest as Sigerson Cup scheduled locked in
After some refreshments and a pre-event chat, players and managers alike filtered into a Croke Park suite to hear their teams fate as GAA president Larry McCarthy kicked off the Electric Ireland High Education GAA Championships for 2023.
The prestigious Sigerson cup was first on the agenda and the Kildare representation is of course Maynooth University. Following a stellar league campaign where they claimed the Ryan Cup for a Division 1 win, Maynooth have undoubtedly laid down a marker ahead of these Championships next month where they will face the University of Galway in the opening round.
An undoubtedly tough draw and speaking before it was made Maynooth manager Davy Burke was asked about his side adapting to opposition depending on their first round opponents, to which he said “We will see what we get,” Burke said with a chuckle.
Burke remained positive about the upcoming campaign given the year they have had so far but the Maynooth boss couldn't help but let out a sigh when Galway came out of the hat 15 minutes later.
“The top teams the DCU’s and University of Galway's will always be there. We are happy enough that we will be competitive anyways,” Burke said.
This Maynooth team is a Kildare side not just in location of the college but in representation, as 14 members of this promising squad are Kildare-based players.
The squad was led to this year’s league victory by new Roscommon manager and Kildare man himself Davy Burke who has been with the college for a number of years and has been entrusted to grow Maynooth college football at the highest level.
The Maynooth boss said of the 14 Kildare players in his squad, “It’s brilliant, and there are a number of lads who have been with us for many years. They are from great clubs too, club football in Kildare is at a very high level. If you are in the top four teams in Kildare you are operating at a reasonable level. That is all helping us and they are spreading the word. And that is attracting more good young lads.”
As well as highlighting the local talent Burke was sure to heap praise onto the rest of his squad from further afield too ahead of their campaign.
Burke said about his side’s ambitions, “We would hope to be very competitive, we won the Ryan cup this year. It’s been a two or three year project to build Maynooth to attract better quality players, more intercounty players.
We wanted to get the best structures and frameworks in place and I think we have done a lot of that. At the moment we have a good chance but we are not silly either, we know what is coming back to the opposition too.”The Ryan Cup win came with a stunning last gasp victory, 1-7 to 0-9, over UCD in the final so there remains plenty of reason to be optimistic for the Kildare outfit.
As is the case for all sides in the competition, there are returns on the cards for playing staff. For Maynooth, they will see a full return to college action of the likes of county forward Darragh Kirwan and Senior club footballer of the year Dermot Hanafin, both of whom were on duty with Naas for much of their college’s league campaign.
Burke said of the returning names, “It is a strong squad, Kildare football is strong and Naas are a very strong team, that’s two from their club and we have another couple.
Clane have a good club side, Sarsfields too, the bulk of our team is Kildare based but we have a nice sprinkling in from Louth, Westmeath, a lot of country lads too from the likes of Roscommon, Meath, Monaghan. For a Kildare college we get very few from Dublin in, it's a real country college. We are strong, no doubt, but how strong are we? We will see in January.”
Aside from the Naas stars mentioned, Maynooth’s squad boasts names such Clane captain Shane O'Sullivan who is fresh off an exceptional scoring campaign in the Kildare Championship and one where he led his young side to a County final.
Two players that manager Davy Burke will know more about than any other are Sarsfields pair Colm Harnett and Kieran Dwyer. The duo have both operated across the half-back line and possess undoubted quality and personality, with the latter being Maynooth's captain for their Sigerson campaign.
Away from the Kildare contingent, Ruairi Kinsella has been a central feature in Maynooth’s attack thus far, the talented Meath man operating as a wing-forward thus far. Kinsella will be a familiar although not pleasant sight to those of a Ballyteague persuasion as he and his Dunshaughlin side knocked The Larks out of this year’s Leinster Intermediate Championship.
University of Galway awaits this strong Maynooth outfit in 2023, as Davy Burke’s side look to carry on from his side’s success earlier this year.
A Maynooth win would see them face the winners of MTU Cork and UCD. A loss against NUIG would mean Maynooth would face the losers of that same game.
Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup draw Round 1 - All games to be played in SETU Waterford
MTU Kerry vs ATU Sligo - Tuesday 10/1/2023 at 19:00
SETU Carlow vs St Mary’s Belfast - Tuesday 10/1/2023 at 19:00
University of Galway vs Maynooth University - Tuesday 10/1/2023 at 19:00
MTU Cork vs University College Dublin - Tuesday 10/1/2023 at 19:00
Queen’s University Belfast vs Ulster University - Wednesday 11/1/2023 at 19:00
ATU Donegal vs Dublin City University - Wednesday 11/1/2023 at 19:00
ATU Galway vs TU Dublin - Wednesday 11/1/2023 at 19:00
University College Cork vs University of Limerick - Wednesday 11/1/2023 at 19:00
There are 27 players in total involved in Sigerson teams.
Maynooth University - 14
Cian Burke (GK) - Clane
Jack Quinn - Leixlip
John Lawler - Eadestown
Colm Harnett - Sarsfields
Shane O’Sullivan - Clane
Paddy McDermott - Naas
Kieran Dwyer - Sarsfields
Dermot Hanafin - Naas
Conor Walsh - Clane
Darragh Kirwan - Naas
Ryan Burke - Caragh
Fionn O’Giollain - Maynooth
Eoin Walsh - Clane
Luke Killian - Sallins
UCD - 2
Tom Browne - Naas
Adam Conneelly - Two Mile House
SETU Carlow - 5
Drew Costello - Naas
Adam Steed - St Laurences
Ryan Houlihan - Moorefield
Darren McDermott - St Mary's Leixlip
John Ball - Clane
DCU - 3
Alex Beirne - Naas
Karl Hartley - Sarsfields
Mark Cully - Carbury
UL - 1
Mark Dempsey - Moorefield
TUD - 2
Cian Grimes - Sallins
James Dalton - Sallins