THE Dowd Cup, the prestigious Ladies football competition for Ulster universities, is to be revamped for the 2010 season.
UUJ and Queens Firsts will now be joined by some of the province’s county teams, rejuvenating the tournament, and giving county managers the opportunity to use the games as a good start to pre-season and look at some new players.
The decision to include county teams in the new-look 2010 Dowd Cup was approved at an Ulster Council meeting after a proposal from the Ulster Ladies Higher Education Council to pilot the new format.
Six county teams will be invited to play in the competition. Like the McKenna Cup, if a player plays for both county and college, she must play for her college team during the competition.
Ulster Ladies Games Development Officer, Sheena Tally, said the decision by Ulster Council to support this new format, will give the Dowd Cup competition, which is crucial to the game at third level education, a whole new dimension.

“It’s great that Ulster Council saw the merit in changing the format for this competition and I’m delighted that they gave the go ahead for it,” she said.

“I hope that by making this change that we can make the Dowd Competition a lot more meaningful for all those who take part in it. It’s going to be a busy January, but it’s a great way to start off the year.”