Ulster Hockey’s Youth Division held its annual prestigious schools’ competitions this week, with some of the regions finest young talent on display. The McCloy Cup (girls’ competition) and the Pearson Cup (boys’ competition) with up to 200 schools across the region competing is sponsored by business advisory firm, BDO Northern Ireland.
This year’s finals took place at Stormont Playball between the 8-10 April, involving all qualifying teams from across Ulster and attracted more than 800 spectators across the 2 days. BDO Northern Ireland announced a three-year sponsorship with the competition last year.
Laura Jackson, Partner at BDO Northern Ireland said,
“Firstly congratulations to Inchmarlo and Seagoe Primary School for their success in this year’s competition. The popularity of youth hockey has risen again in recent years, not least because of the incredible success of local players on the world stage with both the Irish and GB squads. Many of those internationals started their hockey career playing in schools competitions and have worked their way up through the underage structures on the way to playing in the Olympics and Hockey World Cup.
“We are proud to sponsor the McCloy and Pearson Cup competitions and help in the promotion and growth of the sport throughout the region, and hope that we can play our part in developing the hockey stars of the future.”
Andrew Brown, Youth Coordinator at Ulster Hockey added,
“The ongoing support of BDO Northern Ireland as lead sponsor of both our McCloy Cup and Pearson Cup competitions is vital in ensuring we are able to compete at a high level and attract talent. The McCloy and Pearson Cup have been a long-standing part of the Ulster Hockey youth programme for many decades, and always attracts a huge number of participants and supporters.
“The partnership with BDO Northern Ireland is incredibly important and helps us to support and develop youth hockey throughout Ulster.”
BDO Northern Ireland is an award-winning accountancy practice that employs more than 170 people in Northern Ireland and provides a range of professional services to more than 1,000 local companies. This new partnership will allow Ulster Hockey to grow their primary schools competitions, attracting more kids and making it more accessible to schools across Northern Ireland. It will also help improve facilities and allow them to hire more resources to support the growth in the sport.
Seagoe Primary School, winners of the 2019 McCloy Cup and Inchmarlo Primary School, winners of the 2019 Pearson Cup celebrate their achievement with BDO Senior Partner Nigel Harra (far left) and BDO Partner Laura Jackson (second from far right) at both days of the tournament.