Success all round for DCU at 35s competition

In covering the 35s competition, one could never imagine seeing so much raw emotion and passion where the players’ love for sport beams positively on spectators.

This kind of response one would expect standing in the Maracanã Stadium of Rio de Janeiro or on a hurling pitch in Kilkenny: where the only emotion present is unbridled passion.

The 35s is an annual tournament held between DCU and NUI Maynooth in various competitive disciplines. The first event was the Women’s Rugby match in the Sports Ground. DCU ladies started the match with two early tries before the NUI team fought back with two of their own.

The first half continued with both teams vying for supremacy in a closely-fought contest. With nine minutes to go in the first half, DCU captain Aoife O’Brien broke the deadlock – capping off a wonderful passing move with a well taken try, but suffered a knee injury in the process.

After half-time, NUI came back and took the lead at one point. Eventually though the home team began to break away with attack after attack on the NUI defence as their hard work at the breakdown paid off.

The match finished 63-42 to DCU who also claimed the “Player of the Match” with the title going to the outstanding Katie Norris.

NUI captain Christine Prendergast spoke after the match of how their squad had been depleted by withdrawals, but that the match was still a good experience. The positivity in both sets of players shone through in the end as both sides exchanged “tunnel” salutes at the end of the match.

Club captain Aoife O’Brien and PRO Carmel Connaughton spoke of how the match was a positive learning experience for the young and expanding squad, who face NUI again next week.

After the drama out on the pitch, the Archers of DCU and NUI competed in the Sports Hall. The event took the form of a three-on-three match and also provided an opportunity for beginners in the sport.

The DCU team volunteered to take part in the event at short notice, but still showed seemingly boundless enthusiasm even in the practice round.

Áine Ní Óbáin, Club Trips and Events Officer, explained that the 35s event offered a good chance to prepare for the first intervarsity competition of the year, which takes place at the weekend. Up to 160 Archers are expected at the event.

Archery coach Martin Cunningham said their main treats are UCD and GMIT, but added that one of the team’s strong points was the depth of the squad. Cunningham is the current Irish Open champion and has been involved in the sport for 22 years.

Cunningham stressed that the main aspects of today’s event was the enjoyment and “the chance for newcomers to see competition against other universities”. The Archery event concluded with DCU emerging victorious over NUI, scoring 551 out of 900 to Maynooth’s 483 out of 900.

DCU Debate also hosted their NUI counterparts with the motion being “Should Ireland withdraw from the European Union”. NUI were for Ireland’s departure from the EU, but spectators judged DCU to be the overall winners in this hotly contested debate.

Overall the 35s was a competition which was remarkable for the sporting nature of all the events, as well as being a very competitive event in all disciplines.

The passion that the competitors on both sides had for their events would eclipse even the most emphatic victory.