Team of college students to represent Ireland in World esports tournament
Red Bull Campus Clutch Caption Tuesday November 7th: The Red Bull Campus Clutch National Finals took place on Monday at the Red Bull Gaming Hub in SETU Waterford. A team-based VALORANT tournament open only to those in third-level education, the state-of-the-art Red Bull Gaming Hub played host to a fascinating clash of Ireland’s most talented gamers. The winning team of Ciaran McDonnell (UCD), Adam Maxwell (UCD), Conor Duffy (UCD), Joe Geraghty (NCI) and Karolis Ziubrys (University of Galway) got the better of their SETU Waterford opponents on the day, and now head to Istanbul to represent Ireland in the Red Bull Campus Clutch World Finals at the end of the month, with €20,000 on the line.
A team of Irish third-level students will travel to Turkey at the end of the month to compete in the World Finals of Red Bull's college e-gaming league following their win at South East Technological University (SETU) on Tuesday.
The five-person winning team comprising UCD's Ciaran McDonnell, Adam Maxwell, and Conor Duffy, NCI's Joe Geraghty and University of Galway's Karolis Ziubrys came out victorious against their SETU opponents, taking first place in a team-based Valorant tournament at the Waterford's campus Red Bull Gaming Hub.
Taking place in Istanbul at the end of November, the team will represent Ireland at the Valorant World Finals, with a cash prize of €20,000 awaiting the overall winners.
With around 24 million monthly players, Valorant is a first-person tactical shooter game played both individually and in teams. The game has become increasingly popular in the e-sports and professional gaming sphere, with tournaments amassing more than 10,000 teams and millions of live viewers.
In 2020, SETU became the first third-level institution in Ireland to launch an esports scholarship, and in August of this year, Red Bull launched a gaming hub at the college's Waterford campus to support the development of third-level gaming in Ireland.
In addition to providing a training ground for players, the Hub hosts national tournaments, interactive workshops and live-stream events, with Irish gamers also gaining exposure to global esports tournaments via events hosted in the hub.
Both the hub and SETU also work closely with Cork-based professional esports academy Wylde, which is co-owned by Usain Bolt. Contracting 20 professional players across four video games, Wylde also provides training spaces for college players, offering exposure and coaching to prospective esports athletes.
