Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cup finals to take place in Croke Park after four-decade gap

The three Cork colleges chasing third-level GAA championship glory have an extra motivation for success this year.

For the first time in four decades, the finals of both the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup, the top competition for higher-education hurling, and its footballing equivalent the Sigerson Cup, will take place at Croke Park.

On Tuesday night, UCC – who last won the Sigerson in 2023 – are away to DCU Dóchas Éireann in the quarter-finals of that competition (7.30pm).

Then, on Wednesday, MTU Cork host DCU in the quarter-finals of the Fitzgibbon (7.30pm), with UCC away to the University of Limerick in a fixture that starts an hour earlier. UCC won the 2019 and 2020 editions of the competition but, since the one-year hiatus due to Covid-19, UL have taken three of the four titles and were beaten in the other one, by fellow Limerick outfit Mary Immaculate College in 2024.

Not since 1986, when UCC overcame Queen’s University, Belfast, has the Fitzgibbon decider taken place at GAA headquarters; the previous year’s Sigerson final had seen UCD get the better of Queen’s.

In the time since, there was a long period where colleges would host ‘finals weekends’, with semi-finals and finals taking place on consecutive days, but such scheduling no longer occurs due to burnout concerns.

The chairperson of the GAA’s higher education committee, Benny Hurl, believes that siting the finals at Croke Park this year is a positive development.

“This announcement is about more than a fixture,” he said.

“It is a recognition of the extraordinary commitment, talent, and passion that our student players bring to the field year after year.

“It is a celebration of the role that third level institutions play in nurturing the future of our games, developing the next generation of Gaelic Games players, officials and administrators.

“To see the finals of our blue riband competitions taking centre stage in Croke Park is not only a symbolic homecoming, but a powerful recognition of the vital role third level Gaelic Games plays in the fabric of the GAA.”