The University of Limerick Camogie team attended Saturday’s Ashbourne Cup semi-final between UCC and DCU, days after being controversially eliminated from the competition.
The Limerick college finished level on points with DCU in the group stages, but missed out on scoring difference, after the tallies were readjusted following UL’s final game against University of Maynooth. It initially appeared that UL had done enough to progress.
UL raised their concerns, with former Cork star Anna Geary among those publicly backing them.
“How can a team be given official confirmation of what they need to do to qualify for a competition, they go out and achieve that, only to be told then it had changed? What am I missing here? Very disappointing!!” she wrote on Twitter.
On Saturday, images appeared of the UL team – in full gear – watching the semi-final from the side-line.
The third-level camogie body stood over the decision.
Background
The UL released the following statement earlier in the week:
“On Wednesday morning, 72 hours out from the Ashbourne Cup semi-finals, out UL senior camogie team were absolutely shocked and appalled to receive an email from the THDC of the Camogie Association, stating our elimination from the Ashbourne Cup. This came just days after being congratulated by the CCAO (the colleges’ camogie board) on earning our place in the semi-finals.
“On January 31st, with one final game in our group to be played, away to University of Maynooth, we knew a victory for UL would draw us level on points with TUD and DCU in our group. According to competition rules, score difference would now be used to decide which two teams would qualify.
“A table widely shared on the CCAO’s social media channels in the lead-up to this all-important game showed that we needed to win the match by 33 points to qualify in second place. UL still went about seeking official clarification from the CCAO prior to the Maynooth match that indeed a 33-point winning margin was needed. This was confirmed by the CCAO executive. Remarkably, we won the match by 34 points.
“Some time over the next 48 hours, the CCAO contacted UL to say that there may have been a mistake with the ‘official information’ that had been provided. As far as we are aware, a question was raised by DCU about the score difference, importantly not before but after our match with Maynooth, although they had been made officially aware of the scores and possible outcomes in the week leading up to the UL and Maynooth fixture.
“The Electric Ireland Ashbourne Cup semi-finals are due to take place and at the moment, it appears that they will be happening without UL, making a farcical situation out of the whole competition. The decision to retrospectively alter the scoring difference standings after the group had been completed has to be a precedent unheard of in any sport, let alone Ireland’s elite flagship third level camogie competition.”
