The 2025 Irish Hospitals Cup

On Saturday 7 June, the sun-drenched, manicured pitches of Bushy Park, Terenure, provided the perfect venue for the 2025 Irish Hospitals Cup. The popular Saturday Bushy Park Market ensured that there was no shortage of casual spectators for the matches or refreshments for the players between games. The tournament was played over the course of the day with eight teams representing hospitals from across Ireland initially competing in two groups of four. The winners of each group qualified directly for the tournament final. The two most successful teams in recent years, University Hospital Waterford and South/Southwest Hospitals (Cork), avoided one another at the group stage.

Group stage

Waterford kicked off their campaign with a hard-fought draw against Kieran Murray’s competitive University Hospital Limerick outfit. In that match, with full-time approaching, Waterford keeper Mark Rogan expertly turned a goal-bound Paudie Walsh free-kick around the post, denying Limerick a late winner and earning what proved to be a crucial point for the Waterford side. Dr Rogan’s men then edged a tight contest against the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin. Goals from Eltahir Eltigani and team captain, Fred Kenny, sealed a 2-1 win. Waterford secured their place in the final with victory over Dublin Dental Hospital. The ‘Dents’, frequent winners of the Hospitals Cup over the decades, were returning to the tournament after an absence of several years and found the going tough. Goals from Omar Dabash, Eoin O’Grady, Taqi Alzubaidi, and Norwegian medical student, Christian Valstuen, sealed a comfortable win for the Waterford team.

The second group contained both 2024 finalists – the Federated Dublin Hospitals and reigning champions Cork. The first appearance of a team representing the profession in Northern Ireland, organised by Mr Owen Diamond of the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast, was a very welcome feature of the 2025 competition.  Excellent goalkeeping from Tiarnan Bogue, combined with goals from James Gilliland and Stephen O’Neill,  earned the North deserved wins over St Vincent’s and the Feds. However, defeat for the Northerners in the third group game against Dave Mullin’s Cork side, allowed St Vincent’s to progress into the tournament final as group winners based on goals scored. Vincent’s had earlier secured wins over both of the 2024 finalists. In the short game format (20 minutes per half) of the day-long tournament, the first goal in a match is often decisive. Indeed, in their first group game, the key incident in Vincent’s win over Cork came early in the contest. With the teams locked together at 0-0, Vincent’s keeper, Liam Mulcahy, produced a brilliant reaction-save from point-blank range to deny the reigning champions the lead. A real ‘maybe it’s our day’ moment for the Southsiders.

Final

So, the tournament came down to a repeat of the 2023 decider between St Vincent’s and Waterford. In the 2023 final, Waterford came out on top in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw under the lights of the Stepaside astro pitches. In conversations on the sideline before kick-off, all present expected the 2025 final to be an equally tight affair. However, during the game, experienced Vincent’s player/coach, Andy Delany, made full use of the ‘roll-on/roll-off’ substitution rule and the larger Vincent’s squad to overcome the Waterford team in normal time. In a competitive match, a first-half ‘screamer’ from Harry Redmond, followed by second-half goals from teammates Fionn Nally and Aidan McGrath brought the Independent Trophy back to St Vincent’s for the first time in 10 years.

Acknowledgments

The 2025 Hospitals Cup was organised by Dr Barra Neary and generously sponsored by MedicalAccountant.ie. Thanks to Stephen Lacey of Terenure Rangers FC for preparing the pitches and to photographer Rodney Smythe for the wonderful photographic record of the day.