Roscommon and UCD footballer Daire Cregg pictured at the launch of the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup.
By Cian O’Connell
Daire Cregg knows all about the past and present of the GAA community in UCD.
On 34 occasions UCD have won the Sigerson Cup, with the Fitzgibbon captured 32 times. Tradition matters in sport. A passion for Higher Education GAA is being passed through the generations.
Current Louth manager is UCD’s Gaelic Games Development Executive and provides plenty of leadership in Belfield. The links with the past mean a lot. “Brian Mullins was in Ger's job before him,” Cregg explains.
“So, Brian Mullins was involved in my first year of the Sigerson panel and parts of my second year, too. Brian was a lovely fella and a special kind of a face. I never saw him play or anything like that, but my own father went to UCD, he played for UCD, and would have had massive respect for Brian Mullins at that time and how good a player he was for Dublin for years.
“So, he'd be around the dressing room, and he was massive. Obviously, Ger settled into his role. Ger is a great character, he is a top man. We've good craic, he has a brilliant eye for the game, brilliant ideas. He's involved with Louth and doing a brilliant job with them.
“We're very lucky with the lads we have. They are brilliant in terms of coaching and little nuggets.
“Ger could give you a little tip or something from the game, he won't say too much, he won't be in the dressing room, he's in the background.
“He might have a chat with you after a game to give you a nugget of information or something which is well worth hearing. Ger is good to have involved, too.”
For Cregg, there simply is something about the Sigerson. Friday’s win over UCC was a satisfactory start for John Divilly’s outfit, who now face cross town rivals DCU Dóchas Éireann in Round 2A on Wednesday. “I'm lucky enough, this will be year four of Sigerson,” Cregg says.
UCD's Daire Cregg pictured with the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
“So, I joined the team when I was in second year or whatever, nearly all of the lads I played with in that first year are gone, but I'd still be in contact with all of them. I'd still be in touch with a good few of them.”
A bond is formed. “You'd be delighted watching a county game or something, seeing some of the lads on it, you'd be saying, 'I was playing with them lads' or whatever,” he adds.
“You've all those connections. Then, obviously the team we've at present, you've lads from everywhere. We've even a strong cohort from the west, it is brilliant. We've a great group, we get on really well.
“We've great relationships in the team. The only downfall is that we don't get more time together as in you're with county and whatever. Then, over the Christmas period when college breaks up you've two or three weeks when you don't do a whole pile. It is great for us because it gives us a chance to train with the counties, and it isn't putting pressure on our bodies and minds.
“You'd nearly like to get even more time to spend with the lads and build more relationships. We've a really good group and get on really well.”
Galway selector Divilly is very much part of the UCD Gaelic Football story. “John is there for years, he is our manager again this year,” Cregg says.
“John is brilliant. Ger Brennan and Josh Warde are coaches, Paraic McDonald, all involved,Tommy (Flaherty) and the lads. John is brilliant, and he's very good at allowing us that kinda freedom. He’s involved with Galway too, so he knows the craic. He knows what the story is.
“He gives us that freedom to play with our county teams and he's very good at bringing us together when we get that opportunity. Before games we'd probably meet the night before, more for an informal catch up than anything.
“We will talk through a couple of things we might do and a bit of video analysis. It is more so that we sit down, have dinner, have a bit of craic together. We'll go to play our game the next day, John is brilliant at organising that.” Keeping Gaelic Football relevant in UCD.
