Sigerson Cup - History

History

There was no intervarsity Gaelic sports competition until Dr. George Sigerson, born at Holy Hill near Strabane, County Tyrone (11 January 1836 – 17 February 1925), a professor of zoology at University College Dublin, eminent physician, minor poet and literary figure and leading light in the Celtic Renaissance in Ireland) offered up a trophy in 1911. The cup was in the shape of a mether, an ancient Irish drinking vessel, and had four handles representing each of the four Irish provinces. Sigerson presented the trophy at the first tournament dinner, at the old Gresham Hotel, Dublin, in May 1911. W. J. O'Riordan received the cup on behalf of UCC, the first winning team. In 2009 Sigerson was named in the Sunday Tribune's list of the 125 Most Influential People In GAA History. The trophy itself was the longest-serving trophy in national circulation in Gaelic games, until it was replaced by an identical model in 2001.

From its inception Sigerson's alma mater, UCD have dominated the competition winning with 32 titles, their greatest era being in the 1970s when they won the title six times in seven years. These Sigerson Cup wins proved to be the launch pad for success further afield, as UCD went on to add two All-Ireland Club Championship wins to their haul.

In the early days of the tournament, only UCD, UCC and UCG took part. The competition has been run off every year since, with the exceptions of 1920, 1942 and 1967. UCG are second in the pecking order in terms of championships won, currently having 21 victories to their credit. UCG actually outdid UCD in that they hold the record for the longest winning sequence. After their victory in 1936, the Galway University club went on to claim the next five titles and their six in a row is still an unequalled record.

As the years passed, the domination of the original big three was challenged by a number of new participants. Queen's University Belfast entered the competition for the first time in 1923, but did not enter thereafter until 1933. They have participated in the competition every year since, however, and won their first title in 1958. Queen's have eight titles to their name, winning their eighth in 2007 defeating UUJ 0-15 to 0-14 in the final.

As society in general changed with time, and more and more people began to enter third-level education, the number of colleges and universities grew rapidly. The impact of these changes on the Sigerson Cup has been immeasurable. Trinity College Dublin first entered in 1963, followed by NUIM in 1972, the New University of Ulster (later University of Ulster, Coleraine) in 1976, and University of Ulster, Jordanstown in 1985. The next colleges to enter were Thomond, NIHE Limerick and St Mary's, Belfast, all in 1988. Further expansion, and the admittance of Regional Technical Colleges to the competition, saw DCU enter in 1990, the RTCs from Athlone in 1991, Sligo in 1992, CIT in 1995 and Tralee in 1996. All of those colleges have claimed Sigerson Cup titles since the mid-nineties.

Tralee's entry to the competition proved especially fruitful when they won successive titles in 1997, 1998 and '99. The stranglehold of the larger Universities, UCD, UCG and UCC, has now been broken. The colleges in the north have gained a new confidence in the competition, and with a whole raft of new participants joining in recent years, the trophy is now harder won than ever. DCU has been the dominant force in the competition since the mid-2000s, winning three titles between 2006 and 2012. The 100th Sigerson tournament was played in 2013, resulting in the first ever win for Dublin Institute of Technology.

The Irish Daily Mail are the current Sigerson Cup sponsors and follow on from Ulster Bank, Datapac and Bus Éireann as investing in Ireland's premier Higher Education sports competitions.