The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have reached the Irish Universities Collingwood Cup semi-final for the first time in its history. The Collingwood Cup is Ireland's oldest all-island senior soccer competition and is the most prestigious of those involving all the universities.

In the first round at the University of Limerick grounds, the RCSI team performed heroically by defeating Trinity College 1-0 with a goal from Eoin Farrell. 

In the quarter final tie, RCSI went on to defeat the University of Ulster Jordanstown, who had four Irish League players in their line-out, by 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out following a scoreless draw after extra time. The RCSI goalkeeper Jamie Clerkin saved two penalties in this shoot out. 

Today RCSI plays UCD in the semi-finals.

Considering that RCSI has a much smaller pool of players to choose from and that the universities all field their strongest teams, this achievement in reaching the semi-finals is remarkable and ranks amongst the greats of RCSI sporting successes. Full credit goes to the team, to the coach Alan O'Brien, to the support staff and the supporters. Well done also to Jim Sherlock who coached the team for many years and who had a key role in the development of the current team.