‘It’s one of the highlights of my career,’ says Claire Kingston after Ashbourne Cup success

BY SEÁN HOLLAND

CLAIRE Kingston has made a notable addition to her GAA CV already this year – she won the Ashbourne Cup with the University of Limerick.

The Newcestown camogie player was full back on the Limerick college’s team that defeated TUD (Technological University Dublin) by 6-11 to 1-12 in the final at the Connacht AirDome.

‘Definitely, it’s a highlight of my career,’ said UL business student Kingston, who has lined out for Cork camogie at various levels, including winning an All-Ireland minor title in 2019.

‘Even when I was in secondary school, you would hear about the Ashbourne Cup and know how important it was. It’s like an All-Ireland in one sense because you're playing with girls that are all playing inter-county. You could say it is probably just as strong as an inter-country team; the talent is unbelievable.

‘Then after last year, when there was a bit of controversy, just to get over the line this year was a relief.’

The controversy Kingston referred to was UL being dumped out of the 2023 Ashbourne Cup group stages after a scoring error. A table published on the official third-level camogie social media channels showed DCU with a scoring difference after three games of +31, with UL’s shown as -2 having played two games. It meant that UL had to defeat Maynooth in their final group game by 34 points to progress. Amazingly they did that, winning by 34 but the college was subsequently contacted by the CCAO (College Camogie Authority), who informed them that a mistake had been made with the information provided.

‘This year did take some weight off our shoulders because we had such a good team last year and we felt that we could have won it, but there was a good core of us from that team left this year,’ Kingston said.

‘When we met at the start of this campaign, back at the end of September, we were told to park it. Genuinely, it was never really mentioned after that. Even before a game or after a game, it was never brought up. We knew that the group of girls we had this year were well capable of getting over the line. And after what happened last year, it was just so relieving. Honestly, it's probably one of the highlights of my career, one hundred percent. It feels like it is probably an equivalent to an All-Ireland,’ she beamed.

Having achieved her main goal of Ashbourne Cup glory, there was more good news on the horizon for Kingston – she was named full back on the 2024 Electric Ireland Camogie Third Level Rising Stars Team of the Year announced last month.

‘It's something at the start of the year that you honestly don't even think about. Your goal is to go out and win the Ashbourne Cup but it's a nice thing to have, getting that recognition too at the end. You're lying if you say it’s not. It's nice for your family and friends too,’ said Kingston who was as surprised as any when she heard the good news.

‘My phone was hopping for five minutes when I was working from home. Some of the girls had texted me from a group chat and were like, “You're after winning this”. I didn't even know myself. It was up for two hours before I even knew. There was a bit of pandemonium then, so I rang my parents straightaway because I'm in Dublin at the moment for work. I rang them and they were delighted for me.

‘It was a nice way to cap off the year.’