TITLE PARTNER ELECTRIC Ireland has announced a five-year extension to its sponsorship of the GAA Minor Championships, stretching the partnership out until 2027.

Electric Ireland will also continue its sponsorship of the Electric Ireland Higher Education GAA Leagues and Championships for an additional five years, having been the title sponsor of both the Sigerson and the Fitzgibbon Cups since 2017.

As part of today’s announcement, the utility company went on to confirm that it will become the title sponsor of the Celtic Challenge, a developmental hurling competition which features 39 teams from 29 counties, for the next five years.

Throughout this year’s inter-county minor championship season, Electric Ireland, who have sponsored the championships since 2012, will air a new video series called ‘Electric Ireland: Minor Moments Relived’. The online show will feature four former Minor players as well as past Minor team-mates reflecting on moments from their minor-championship days which they carried with them into adulthood.

In addition to that series, Electric Ireland will highlight five ‘Minor Moments of the Week’ every week during this year’s championship, the best of which will be announced on the company’s social channels. They will also sponsor this year’s Minor All-Star awards.

Uachtarán CLG Larry McCarthy said: “The GAA is delighted to see Electric Ireland’s continued support of the Minor Championship as it announces a renewal of our partnership for a further five years. Furthermore, I am thrilled by Electric Ireland’s commitment to up-and-coming GAA talent through the renewal of its sponsorship of the Higher Education GAA Leagues and Championships and its new title sponsorship of the Celtic Challenge. With their support, the Electric Ireland Minor Championship has produced some exceptional moments and memories and now, we look forward to watching as Electric Ireland spotlight the integral moments that make up these young player’s Minor careers through the Minor Moments Relived series.”

Former Galway dual minor Alan Kerins, an ambassador for Electric Ireland’s continued association with minor GAA, said: “It was an honour to represent Galway at both hurling and football at minor level and I was lucky enough to win a minor championship medal in 1994. There is no doubt that my minor career helped me develop in terms of leadership and resilience. It was a huge honour at the time and one that instilled seeds of belief that stood to me not just in my transition to a senior player, but into adulthood as well.”

Fellow ambassador Steven McDonnell, a former Armagh minor footballer, added: “My first experience of representing Armagh was in the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships and since then, the Minor Championships have held a special place in my heart. One of the best moments of my GAA career was finding out that I had made the minor panel and it is something that I have cherished ever since. Both the confidence and values instilled in me from representing Armagh at minor level, fuelled my ambition not just for my playing career, but also away from the playing field.”