DCU camogie’s Sean Flynn expressed his frustration with the CCAO ruling that prevents the Purcell Cup winners from automatically competing in the prestigious Ashbourne Cup the following year.
The current CCAO ruling forces the Purcell Cup champions to compete in a play-off against the losers of the Ashbourne Cup, with the prize being division one camogie. Unfortunately for the Northsiders, their bid for Ashbourne camogie was unsuccessful as they were defeated by NUIG on Monday afternoon.
Speaking to The College View, the assistant manager said he feels that the Purcell Cup winners should be guaranteed Ashbourne camogie the next year: “I don’t see why you’d go out and try and win a competition if you’re not going to go further than you did last year. It’s disappointing for the girls because most of them were on the team last year and they really wanted to play Ashbourne, especially after winning every game last year in the competition. I personally can’t see why a team that won the Purcell last year can’t play Ashbourne this year.”
The DCU women lost by 2-8 to 2-5 in the play-off against NUIG, and Flynn said the result was hard on the team: “I’m gutted. We put everything into it. I don’t think we deserved to lose now to be honest. The girls tried so hard. We were training four times a week for the last month or two. It was just disappointing on the day.
“It was a tight game. There was a strong breeze in the first half and we were playing against it. We went a few points down but the girls worked hard and brought it back to three points. A few things went against us. It was disappointing.”
With just one game remaining this year, Flynn believes the college’s stickwomen will do their best to produce a victory: “We’re playing DIT before Christmas so we’ll try and put everything into that game and win that game and make sure that we’re in the Purcell weekend. The girls are putting a huge effort in, all we have to look forward to now is that game.“
Jessica Farry
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