2017 Independent.ie Higher Education Senior Championship draws

07 December 2016 - 1:08PM

UCD won the 2016 Sigerson Cup in February.

Comhairle Ardoideachais and Cumann Lúthchleas Gael are delighted to launch the 2017 Independent.ie.Higher Education GAA Championships. This is the third year of a three-year sponsorship commitment between Independent.ie and the GAA and we are delighted with their continued support.

Earlier this afternoon in the GAA Museum in Croke Park, the draws for the 2017 Independent.ie Higher Education GAA Championships were made producing some mouth-watering ties to look forward to in the New Year.

Speaking on behalf of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, Uachtaáin Aogán Ó Feargháil, said: “One of the great success stories of the GAA in the last few decades has been the phenomenal growth of our Games at Third Level. There was always a prestige attached to winning the Fitzgibbon and the Sigerson Cups, but the fact that more teams than ever before are at that standard and the fact that there is meaningful competition right across the Third Level spectrum has been an important development.

"Increasingly we are seeing that stars of the future are being spotted first in their exploits at colleges' level and that the standard is a natural stepping stone between minor and Under 21 and then senior inter-county level.

"Of course, one great constant and attraction is the fact that the bonds and the friendships formed by the players on these teams endure long into the future. I find it a constant source of pride to see the passion, commitment and quality of the young people embracing and playing our Games and it gives us all confidence in the future of our Association.”

Exclusive content and coverage of the Higher Education GAA Championships and today’s draws is available at www.independent.ie/sport. Independent.ie Editor Ger Keville said: “We are delighted to be title sponsors of the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups for the third year running.

"These competitions showcase the best of the young GAA talent in the country and as a media organisation that is steeped in GAA tradition, we value our partnership greatly. Best of luck to all the participants this year - if last year is anything to go by, there is a very exciting few months ahead.”

After a hectic couple of months of action in the 16 Independent.ie Higher Education GAA League competitions, the focus for students will now switch to championship fare. The 2017 Sigerson Cup will be decided in Connacht GAA’s Centre at Bekan over the 17th and 18th of February. Last year’s Fitzgibbon Cup champions, Mary I, will be hoping that the travel to NUIG will result in them retaining the trophy. The hosts, NUIG, will be hoping that they can win the trophy, as they did when they hosted in 2010.

Again this year, all Sigerson fixtures will be played on campuses/local venues as part of the third year of a home-and-away agreement between all clubs. Any pairings which occurred over the last two years will now revert to the other clubs venue. With improvements made to many of the GAA facilities in the Higher Education sector this will give clubs the opportunity to showcase their venues and will continue to raise the interest of the local student body in these fixtures.

With fixtures in the Independent.ie HE GAA Championships scheduled to start on Tuesday January 24th 2016, full details of dates, times and venues will be circulated later this week.

Fixtures, results and news updates will be available throughout the season on www.gaa.ie/higherducation and www.Independent.ie/sport

Follow all the action on the ‘GAA Higher Education’ Facebook page and on Twitter @HigherEdGAA and the hashtags: #Sigerson #Fitzgibbon #hegaa

The draws for the 2017 Independent.ie Higher Education Senior Championships took place at Croke Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Sigerson Cup

Preliminary Round

NUIG v Trinity College

Garda v Cork IT

GMIT v IT Sligo

Round One

UL v Maynooth University

Athlone IT v DIT

Garda/Cork IT v University Ulster