Anything the Champions League can do, the GAA can do better, but at the second time of asking the draws for the 2022 GAA Higher Education Championships – the Fitzgibbon (hurling) and Sigerson (football) cups were made on Tuesday afternoon.
For IT Carlow, the Fitzgibbon Cup has thrown up a few mouth-watering clashes having been drawn alongside Maynooth University, competition favourites DCU and neighbours WIT in Group B.
Defending champions UCC also fare a tough draw alongside NUIG, UCD and Mary I in group A.
Kilkenny’s DJ Carey, coaching the college hurlers, says it’s “a pretty sticky draw” for his side in the 2022 running of the competition.
Last week it was confirmed that IT Carlow would host the finals of both competitions in late February.
The first round of games for the Sigerson Cup get underway on the week commencing Monday 10 January, with the Fitzgibbon cup starting the following week.
2022 Fitzgibbon Cup Draw
- Group A: NUIG (1), UCD (2), UCC (3), Mary I (4)
- Group B: DCU (1), Maynooth (2), IT Carlow (3), WIT (4)
- Group C: GMIT (1), Trinity (2), MTU CC (3)
- Group D: UL (1), TUS MW (2), TU Dublin (3)
Round 1 – w/c 17 January
- Groups A/B: Team 2 v Team 1, Team 4 v Team 3
- Groups C/D: Team 1 v Team 2
Round 2 – w/c 24 January
- Groups A/B: Team 1 v Team 4, Team 3 v Team 2
- Groups C/D: Team 2 v Team 3
Round 3 – w/c 31 January
- Groups A/B: Team 1 v Team 3, Team 4 v Team 2
- Groups C/D: Team 3 v Team 1
Quarter Finals – w/c 7 February
- E Winner A v Runner Up B
- F Winner B v Runner Up A
- G Winner C v Runner Up D
- H Winner D v Runner Up C
Semi-finals – TBC IT Carlow
- Winner E v Winner G
- Winner F v Winner H
Final – 19/20 February at IT Carlow
2022 Sigerson Cup Draw
Fixtures for the first two rounds of this year’s football competition have been determined with games underway from the week commencing Monday 10 January.
First Round – w/c 10 January
- A IT Carlow v LYIT
- B IT Sligo v UL
- C TU Dublin v St. Marys
- D Maynooth U v DCU DE
- E Queens v BYE
- F NUIG v UU
- G MTU CC v UCC
- H MTU KC v UCD
Round 2 – w/c 17 January
- I Winners A v Winners B
- J Winners C v Winners D
- K Winners E v Winners F
- L Winners G v Winners H
- M Losers A v Losers B
- N Losers C v Losers D
- O Losers E v Losers F
- P Losers G v Losers H
Remaining rounds
- Round 3: w/c 24 January
- Quarter-finals: w/c 31 January
- Semi-finals: w/c 7 February
- Final: 16/17 February (at IT Carlow)
The matches will be an opportunity for IT Carlow to showcase their impressive new sports facilities on campus, and through the merging of the traditional football and hurling final weekends will see eight finals played over five days and create a festival atmosphere between February 16 and 20.
“Institute of Technology Carlow has made significant investment in our sporting facilities in recent years and the Electric Ireland Higher Education Gaelic Games Championships will be among the first student events to be hosted on our brand-new €15million South Sports Campus”, says president of IT Carlow, Dr. Patricia Mulcahy.
“The Fitzgibbon Cup and Sigerson Cup Finals are some of the oldest and most famous competitions in the Irish sporting calendar and we in Institute of Technology Carlow are particularly proud to host them in 2022.”
