Last year was a successful year for the club at intervarsity level.  The senior team won the Collingwood Cup in Galway, eventually winning the final 7-6 on penalties against Trinity College Dublin.  A full account of the week in Galway, written by Paul Wycherley, can be seen here. 

The college, for the first time, provided two teams in the Crowley Cup due to the withdrawal of Magee College.  The J2 team were extremely unlucky to be beaten in the final 1-0 against UCD.  The fresher team, competing in Coleraine, won the Harding Plate but must feel hard done by not to win the competition outright.

This year the Collingwood Cup will be held in Cork between the 17th-21st February 2003.  This is especially significant as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of UCCAFC.  UCC have been drawn in a tough group along with last year's runners up TCD, NUIG, who will also be out for revenge after receiving a 5-0 drubbing at last year's Collingwood and lastly, DIT.

This year's Harding Cup will be held in Galway from Thursday 30th January to Sunday 2nd February.  UCC have been given a bye to the quarter finals where they will play DCU.

The 2003 Crowley Cup will be held in Belfast.  Details of this competition have yet to be disclosed.    

By Paul Wycherley

On Friday 22nd of February last UCCAFC bought home the Collingwood Cup. For those of you who don't know what that means, the UCC senior soccer team won the premier soccer intervarsities in Ireland. This year the tournament, which runs over 5 days and contains 15 different colleges north and south of the border, was held in Galway.

Off they set Sunday morning to the team's residence for the week - The Victoria Hotel in Ayers Square. There was an air of expectancy and confidence around the club about the senior team's chances of winning the Collingwood for the 2nd time in 3 years as this squad was as good as any before and UCC were drawn in a supposed easy group.  But what seems easy on paper has to be proven on the pitch. And that's just what they did.

The UCC boys hit St. Marys for 6 in their opening group match on Monday. The goalscorers were Paul Irwin, Shane Hennessy, Ollie Conlon (2) and Willie O' Keefe (2). The defence went to sleep just once in the match, with the final score 6-1. It seemed like UCC liked playing against Saints as next up at the slaughter house were St. Patricks. This time only a measily 4 goals were converted with a clean sheet at the other end. Ollie Conlon (2), Conor Shapiro and Darren Hayes were the goalscorers that day. Going into their last group match, UCC knew they had topped the group and thus qualified as  semi-finalists, so squad rotation was put into action. If seemed to back-fire against the Royal College of Surgeons as UCC went 2 down, which included the most bizarre own goal ever, scored by Diarmuid Crowley, and an upset seemed on the cards. But normal service soon resumed as the boys in red and black put 5 past Surgeons to win 5-2. The men with the golden feet were Paul Rose (3), Allan Weldon and Thomas Dekkers.

So by now UCC had built up a reputation, but how would they handle one of the pre-tournament favourites and hosts NUI Galway. UCC had only 5 chances in the 90 minutes. The final score was NUI Galway 0 – UCC 5. Shane Hennessy in impressive form bagged a hat-trick with Paul Rose and Eoin O’ Driscoll getting in on the act too. UCC’s goalkeeper Paul Kelleher, also brilliantly saved a penalty when UCC were only 2-0 up.

So the scene was set for a mouth-watering final. A windy Terryland Park, 2:30p.m. on the Friday. The irresistible force, UCC - plundering 20 goals, against the immovable object, Trinity – beating Coleraine in a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw to reach the final. UCC quickly found their stride and started to control the match. With Ollie Conlon on the left wing creating chances, UCC went close in the first half through Ken Bruton and Shane Hennessy. Trinity rarely threatened the UCC rearguard in the first 45 minutes. It was much of the same in the second half as UCC tried in vain to break down the solid Trinity defence, mainly due to bad luck and stout defending from the opposition. Ollie Conlon missed a glorious chance and Hennessy’s free-kick was brilliantly tipped over. Hennessy could also feel aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty. There were a few hairy moments at the other end, but the Dublin college never really looked like scoring.

Into extra-time we went. Substitute Eoin Linehan’s performance was about the only thing to excite the supporters in extra-time as neither side seemed able to put the ball between the posts. So, penalties would have to decide the outcome. What a cruel way to finish a tournament, but it would seem unjust if UCC lost at this stage as they had dominated proceedings. After 12 penalties the score was 6-6. Trinity missed their next, so Allan Weldon, the UCC captain, stepped up to strike home the winning penalty and send the UCC team and their 30 strong supporters in a wild frenzy of hugging and hysteria.

UCC were presented with the Collingwood Cup and Allan Weldon thanked many people including our sponsors Bank of Ireland. The celebrations went well into the night as everyone went on to the Collingwood dinner. Ollie Conlon was named man of the match in the final and 4 UCC players were named on the Irish Universities panel (Keiran Mahon, Allan Weldon, Ken Bruton and Shane Hennessy) with 2 others on stand-by (Darren Hayes and Michael Keirnan).

The celebrations didn’t stop there as they went on for further nights in Cork, where the cup itself received special treatment from certain players, who can’t be named for legal reasons, and is currently being fixed by a panel beater. Lets hope it’s ok for the Collingwood next year which UCC as hosting.

Collingwood Squad 2002: Paul ‘Fatsack’ Kelleher, Eddie ‘Mini-Me’ Cronin, Allan ‘I like young girls’ Weldon, Keiran ‘?’ Mahon, Conor ‘Castandsa’ Twomey, Micheál ‘Hallie’ Keiran, Diarmuid ‘Stupo’ Crowley, Ken ‘Diggles’ Douglas, Conor ‘De Niro’ Shapiro, Dave ‘Fat Boy’ O’ Riordan, Eoin ‘Mousey’ Linehan, Ollie ‘Ostrich’ Conlon, Ken ‘Kenny B’ Bruton, Darren ‘Champagne’ Hayes, Paul ‘Fata Nakata’ Irwin, Eoin ‘Dricky’ O’ Driscoll, Shane ‘Wanchope (Sting)’ Hennessy, Thomas ‘Ralph Lauren’ Dekkers, Willie ‘I tell you boy’ O Keeffe, Paul ‘Rosie’ Rose.

Coaches: Canice Kennedy & Lawrence Neville