Croke Park will play host to the 2020 All Ireland Hurling Final this Sunday with 15 WIT students and alumni pulling on the blue and white
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship has just two teams remaining and the countdown is on to the final at Croke Park.
Waterford are set to meet Limerick in the final for the first time ever following their impressive semi-final victories in the race for the coveted Liam McCarthy Cup. This game has a 3.30pm throw in on Sunday and certainly promises to be an epic encounter with Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) strongly represented on the day.
A long-awaited day
The Déise men are bidding to win the title for the first time since 1959 while Limerick’s last success was in 2018. Since 1959, Waterford have been in three All-Ireland Finals but lost out to Kilkenny in 1963 and 2008 and more recently Galway in 2017.
Liam Cahill has turned Waterford into serious contenders in his first season in charge, having seen off Cork before losing to the Treaty County in the provincial decider. They then beat Clare in their All-Ireland quarter-final tie, before sealing a sensational comeback against Kilkenny at Croke Park to reach the decider.
Best of luck from WIT
WIT Vikings Sports Manager Katie Redmond said ahead of the weekend: “All at WIT Vikings Sport would like to wish all players and management teams the very best of luck in the final. We would also like to thank and acknowledge all our current and past students for their commitment along with their tremendous discipline towards WIT Vikings Sport. We as an institute can certainly be proud of their achievements and we would like to wish them all the best for the future.”
The state-of-the-art facilities at the WIT Arena is also the training base for the Waterford senior hurling team and WIT President, Prof Willie Donnelly, sent his best wishes to Waterford.
"WIT is extremely proud of its strong links to Croke Park this weekend. Sunday sees 15 WIT players and backroom staff involved. This weekend is a very special one for the Waterford team, indeed the entire county of Waterford, as they bid to win their first All-Ireland title since 1959. On behalf of WIT staff and students I wish the very best to our students, graduates and of course the people of Waterford in what I’m sure will be a very exciting weekend of sport.”
Waterford
(12 players and 3 backroom team members with WIT links)
Current students: (5)
Jack Prendergast - Business Student - WIT Vikings Sport Scholar
Calum Lyons - Masters Business Management Student - WIT Vikings Sport Scholar
Tom Barron - Agricultural Science Student - WIT Vikings Sport Scholar
Ciaran Kirwan - Recreation & Sports Management Student - WIT Vikings Sport Scholar
Billy Nolan - Business Student - WIT Vikings Sport Scholar
Alumni: (7)
Jake Dillon - Former Recreation and Sport Management and Marketing Masters Business student. Jake won the Fitzgibbon cup with WIT in 2014. He was named man of the match in the final against CIT.
Shane Fives - Former Recreation and Sport Management student who, as a first year, won the Fitzgibbon Cup with WIT in 2008 on the half back line.
Shane McNulty - Former Business student and Fitzgibbon cup finalist 2016
Kevin Moran - Former Business student and Fitzgibbon cup winning captain in 2008
Stephan O'Keefe - Former Business student who won the Fitzgibbon cup in 2014 playing in goal
Pauric Mahony - Former Business Management Masters student. He won a Fitzgibbon cup with WIT in 2014 at centre-forward.
Austin Gleeson - Former Business student and Fitzgibbon Cup finalist in 2016
Back room team (3)
Mikey Bevans - Former Business Student and Fitzgibbon Cup winner with WIT
Joey O'Brien – Current Head of Health & Performance in WIT Arena and S&C coach with Waterford Senior Hurlers. Joey is a former Sports Coaching & Performance student and current WIT Vikings Sport Scholarship S&C Coach.
Stephan Frampton - Waterford Senior Hurling Selector - Former Business Studies student and Fitzgibbon Cup hurler
From Ashbourne and Fitzgibbon Cup winning graduates to current WIT Vikings Sports Scholarship students, altogether 28 students past and present will be pulling on their county colours over the weekend.
Read about the WIT representation in the Camogie All-Ireland Final
Related Courses
- Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Business (Common Entry)
- Bachelor of Business (Honours) in Recreation & Sport Management
- Master of Business in (Management Stream)
- Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Agricultural Science
- Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Sports Coaching & Performance
- Bachelor of Science in Science (General)
- Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Health Sciences (Common Entry)
SETU Waterford, Cork Road, Waterford City, 
