UCC Sport Roundup

By Sam Curtin  With covid restrictions lifted, the vast majority of sports clubs in UCC are back playing competitive matches. Every issue until Christmas we will provide an update on some of the key stories involving UCC sport. Now it is time to take a look some of the other action that’s been happening over the past fortnight.ParalympicsDiscus Niamh McCarthy retired last week. The former UCC student retires at 27 with a glittering career in the F41 discus event. Career highlights for McCarthy include winning silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics along with the same result in the 2017 world championships before becoming European Champion in 2018. Most recently, McCarthy finished 5th at the Tokyo Olympics.Upon her announcement, McCarthy said "I want to thank all of those that have supported me on my journey in sport; my family, friends, coaches, Paralympics Ireland, Sport Ireland and so many others, I think that I have given you all some good memories, I know I will take a lot of great memories away from my time as a high-performance athlete".RugbyIt’s been a mixed start to the AIL season for the UCC senior team. At present, they sit bottom of Division 1A with a point from four games despite some promising glimpses in the past couple of weeks. Here’s hoping the students can turn it around and go on a run over the next few weeks with games such as Clontarf and Cork Con at home to come.SailingQuercus scholar Johnny Durcan announced his Paris 2024 Olympic campaign last month in the 49er class with teammate Seafra Guilfoyle. In what is always a competitive event,  the pair are aiming to become one of the youngest ever Irish teams to compete in sailing at the Olympics. Although the games are three years away, the duo have been in a training camp in Marseille where the event will take place in 2024.BasketballBasketball has been one of the worst affected sports in relation to the pandemic due to its indoor nature. UCC are more than making up for it though with plenty of college involvement in the past couple of weeks. In the Insuremyhouse.ie President’s National Cup, UCC Demons were 88-61 winners over Ulster University at the Mardyke on Halloween Night. You could say it was a scarily good afternoon for the home side…UCC Glanmire were also victorious against Killester, gaining revenge for the league defeat in the process by defeating the Dublin side in the first round of the National Senior Cup.CricketThe first ever Munster indoor league commenced on the 30th of October with UCC getting off to the perfect start against Midleton winning 49 runs after hitting 180. The very best of luck to the team for the rest of the tournament.SoccerThere was a great win for the men’s side in the Munster Senior league last week. They picked up their first win of the season by beating 1-0 which leaves them in 8th place after seven games. There is a long way to go however so plenty of time left for UCC to get back into the title picture.GAAThe college leagues get up and running this week in hurling, football and camogie with all teams building towards their respective championships over the coming months. Best of luck to all teams involved.UCC football manager Billy Morgan has joined the Under 20 football background team. The legendary All-Ireland winning coach will join new manager Bobby O’Dwyer on the sidelines. O’Dwyer is taking over from Keith Ricken who was announced as new Senior football boss last month.NovemberMany of the UCC sports clubs are taking part in Movember this year. It is great to see so many teams fundraise and get behind such a worthy cause. Best of luck to everyone involved.