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Ulster Universities
Championship
04/2/07
Dowd Cup 2007
It was a big weekend for
Ulster Ladies football as the main event
in the Ulster University Football
Calendar, the Dowd Cup kicked off on
Friday 2nd February 2007. The annual
event, this year hosted by University of
Ulster Jordanstown, is now celebrating
its 14th Anniversary and is still going
from strength to strength.
Queen's University
Belfast, managed by Castlewellan players
Kevan Owens and Brian Dougherty,
triumphed over University of Ulster
Jordanstown on
Sunday at the Poly, Belfast to win the
Ulster Universities Gaelic Telecom Dowd
Cup on a score line of QUB 1.10 - UUJ
1.5.
“Everyone including the
UUJ thought that all they had to do was
just turn up. We knew that the only
panel that would decided the outcome of
the Dowd Cup final was Queens. We had no
doubt that we would win and Sunday was
the time to deliver.” -
Kevan Owens
The match was the finale to 3 days of
competitive ladies football which saw
eight teams battle it out for honours in
cold but perfect conditions. The teams
included Queen's University Belfast 1sts
and 2nds, UUJ 1sts and 2nds, St Mary's
Belfast, UU Magee, UU Coleraine, and
guests Liverpool John Moore’s &
Liverpool Hope.
The ultimate prize in
Ulster Colleges Ladies Football takes
its name from a former president of
Cumann Peile Gael na mBan, Tom Dowd. A
devoted Crosserlough, Co. Cavan clubman,
Tom Dowd has had a long association with
Ladies Gaelic, coaching Cavan to
All-Ireland Senior glory in 1977. The
inaugural Dowd Cup was hosted by UU
Coleraine and rotates around the
Colleges on a yearly basis. University
of Ulster, Jordanstown have retained the
Cup 5 out of the past 6 years and St.
Mary’s and Queen’s were out to ensure
their successful run did not continue.
Queen’s have been the 2nd most dominant
team in the competition having won the
Cup in three successive years in the
late 1990s (1997-1999) and again in 2005
and now 2007. St. Mary's are still
searching for that elusive first title
having previously won the McNally Plate
on two occasions. The Mc Nally Plate
competition also took place this weekend
for Division 2 teams, named after Owen
McNally, Monaghan referee and member of
Ulster Council. Owen also played a vital
role in the establishment of the
Colleges Football in Ulster,
contributing much over the years. The Mc
Nally Plate was won by Liverpool Hope
who also beat University of Ulster,
Jordanstown II in the final.
Geraldine Giles Ladies
GAA President presented Queen's captain
Caroline O’Hanlon with the Dowd Cup
during the awards ceremony following the
matches.
This was the 5th time
that the Malone Road University had won
the cup, the last time being 2005.
Queen's scorers were Laura McCann 0:07,
Catherine Mullan 1:00, Rosie McGarvey
0:02, Caroline O’Hanlon 0.01.
Queens team:
1.Emma Madine 2.Grace
Parks 3.Clare O’Kane 4.Grainne
McClean 5.Victoria Mallet 6.
Marie Gallagher (Vice Captain) 7.Louise
Loughran 8. Rosie McGarvey 9.Caroline
O'Hanlon (Captain). 10.Laura
McCann, 11.Gemma Begley 12.Orla
McKibbin 13.Catherine Mullan
14.Lyndsey Cunningham 15.Petrina
Tierney Subs: Emma Mulhern,
Sinead Johnston, Donla Fisher, Nuala
Owens, Aiofe O’Hanlon, Maeve McConville
Managers:
Kevan Owens & Brian Doughertry
Physio : Noel Rice
DOWD CUP WEEKEND. – Kevan
Owens (QUB Ladies Manager)
It was an honour and
privilege for me to manage a superb
group of girls to Dowd Cup success at
the Poly at the weekend. Going into the
final against UUJ as underdogs, it was
great to see that our tactics and game
plan worked to a tee. We had been
building towards the Dowd Cup weekend
all year and Sunday was actually the
first time we had all our girls together
all year. Their work rate and desire to
win was evident from the first whistle.
I had been asked by the
Students Union Games Administration
Committee to take this job on this year
and, along with my co-manager Brian
Dougherty, I was more than pleased to
accept the post of Queens Ladies Team
Managers 2006/2007. We had already
managed our home club Castlewellan to
the Down Ladies Senior title in 2005 so
we were well aware of the talent
available at home and indeed further a
field.
I was interested to learn
that since the Queens Ladies Club was
Founded 93–94 Queens have only won The
Dowd Cup 4 times, only once since 1999
(2005). So most of our current squad,
bar our fresher’s, already had1 winners
medal. Queen's dominated the Dowd Cup
competition for much of the late
nineties, but have played second best to
Jordanstown since.
The Dowd Cup experience:
Those of the panel who
had been here before obviously knew what
it’s all about, but to those who were
just starting University life - as I
told them at the start of the year - be
prepared - they will have experienced a
lot of different things this year, as a
student, as a person and as a
footballer. Bar playing for their County
this was a step up to anything that they
have experienced in their football life.
They could have looked at
it in two ways :
1.
Just go along for the craic. Or
2 .
Look on it as a stepping stone to the
footballer that you have the potential
to be.
An observation I had over
the years at Ladies matches is the lack
of supporters. We therefore encouraged
the girls to encourage their family and
friends to come along to the matches
over the weekend and offer their
support. Small things like these are not
really small things – They lay down a
marker for other teams and they are also
a sign that the girls families and
friends believed, respected and
understood the effort, commitment and
desire they have put in to succeed.
And at the end of the day
and at the end of the Dowd Cup weekend
success was the only thing that made us
happy. As they say - "Nobody remember
who came in 2nd place".
County players raise the
teams profile and this year we were
pleased to have, as captain, current
Vodafone All Star Caroline O'Hanlon
(Armagh).
“It is wonderful to see
athletes who are dedicated to a sport.
People like Caroline are the backbone of
sport and she is deserving of her award
through her passion of sport and
encouraging younger children to follow
their dreams by sharing her knowledge
and skills.”
Other experienced players
like Liouse Loughran, Marie Gallagher,
Orla McKibbin, Grace Parks, Gemma
Begley, Victoria Mallet, Rosie McGarvey,
Clare O’Kane and Laura McCann were well
supported by new or “freshers” Emma
Mulhern, Lyndsey Cunningham, Sinead
Johnston, Nuala Owens, Catherine Mullan,
Donla Fisher and the superb Emma Madine
in goals.
It was pleasing to see
that the Competition was another great
intervarsity hosting success for the
Gaelic Clubs and I congratulate UUJ on
that, it should also be highlighted that
the event is mainly organised by the
student clubs themselves.
This is a massive year
for the Queens Club in every aspect as
they are celebrating 75 years of GAA in
the University and I also congratulate
them on their achievement.
We obviously were
overjoyed to follow on from the recent
senior men’s Ryan cup success and see
captain Caroline O'Hanlon lift The Dowd
Cup at Jordanstown on Sunday evening.
I was always confident
that this group of players were more
than capable of achieving that goal, but
their success didn’t come without
desire, commitment and a touch of skill
thrown in.
This squad have all 3 in
abundance.
“We, Queens, have never
won the O’Connor Cup (All- Ireland) –
And never looked like winning it. I feel
that is something that now has to be
addressed for a University of this
stature.” |
