This is the Electric Ireland Third Level camogie finals’ weekend with no fewer than five trophies to be handed out at the UCD sports complex in Belfield tonight and on Sunday.
Two will be decided this evening with Ulster University at Magee making their first ever appearance in a final at this level. They will play for the newly-named Ashling Murphy Cup against ATU Sligo at 6pm.
Sligo qualified for the final as late as Tuesday evening when they hosted the semi-final against QUB seconds and had a convincing victory. Magee had made the cut a week ago with victory over Dublin outfit Marino.
The Derry side is captained by Antrim senior player Áine Magill and includes her younger sister Bríd and another player, Fionnuala Toner, from their Cross & Passion Ballycastle school teams.
The team is drawn from clubs right across Ulster with Dubliner Ava Berry the only 'outsider' likely to start.
Their opponents Sligo are a quantity unknown to Magee as the pair haven’t met yet, but Sligo were comfortable winners over Queen’s on Tuesday evening and will start favourites.
The trophy for tonight’s final was presented to CCAO (the Third Level camogie committee) earlier this week by Mary Immaculate College Limerick in memory of their former player Ashling Murphy.
Ashling, aged 23, was murdered while out jogging along a canal bank near her home in Offaly in early 2022.
The other final tonight is at 8pm and features TUD and UL in the Corn Uí Mhaolagáin decider.
The semi-finals of three main competitions take place tomorrow afternoon with the finals then to follow on Sunday.
There are no Ulster teams involved in the 107th version of the Electric Ireland Ashbourne Cup, but there will still be interest in the fortunes of TUD who play SETU Waterford in the first semi-final.
Antrim star forward Róisín McCormick and Cavan midfielder Niamh Keenaghan will feature in the TUD line-out. They helped their university to a first Purcell Cup last year and there is expectation that they might be poised to collect the Ashbourne for the first time.
DCU achieved that feat last year and they look to have a tough assignment in the second semi-final against UCC who already have 31 titles under their belt.
In the Purcell Cup another Cork side, MTU, is expected to prevail.
Meanwhile, Ulster’s main interest over the weekend will be with Queen’s in the Fr Meaghair Cup. They face past winners MTU Kerry in tomorrow’s semi-final.
Word coming out of the Queen’s camp is that they have been going very well in training and in the qualification rounds. However, like UU Magee, their opponents are an unknown quantity.
All-Ireland Junior player of the year Áine Graham is in goals for them and they have a fair smattering of quality players who have come through at underage intercountry level in recent years.
FIXTURES
All games in UCD, Belfield.
Friday
6pm: Electric Ireland Ashling Murphy Cup final: UU Magee v ATU Sligo
8pm: Electric Ireland Corn Uí Mhaolagáin final: TUD v UL
Saturday
Electric Ireland Ashbourne Cup semi-finals
2pm: TUD v SETU Waterford
4pm: UCC v DCU Dóchas Éireann
Electric Ireland Purcell Cup semi-finals
2pm: SETU Carlow v University of Galway
4pm: MTU Cork v Trinity
Electric Ireland Fr Meaghair Cup semi-final
12pm: DCU v UCD
2pm: MTU Kerry v Queen’s
Sunday
12pm: Electric Ireland Fr Meaghair Cup final
2pm: Electric Ireland Purcell Cup final
4pm: Electric Ireland Ashbourne Cup final
