The club was formed as recently as the 1992-93 season under the organisation of Jim Nestor and Jacko Kelly. That year the club won in its inaugural season the Division 3 League Final and the Division 3 Championship, beating the Army Apprentices in the final. The team contained established county players such as John Flavin (Limerick) and Niall Hand (Offaly). Promotion beckoned.

During the 1993/94 season the team competed in Division 2 of the HE League and unfortunately found the step up too difficult, especially having lost their county stars.

The 1994/95 season was spent back in Division 3 without any success, despite continuing support from captain Pat Buckley (Cork) and Jim Nestor.

In 1995/96 the team reached the Division 3 league final where the Army Apprentices exacted revenge, narrowly defeating the then RTC Sligo hurlers.

The 1996/97 season was Pat Buckley’s last as captain and player coach but unfortunately no honours were attained.

In the winter semester of the 1997/98 season the team suffered badly from injury, suspension and lack of training and promptly lost 2 of their 3 league fixtures played. In January 1998 a new staff management team was persuaded to run the team affairs. They were Brian Mc Cann (Team Manager- a native of Cushendall in the Glens of Antrim), Molua Donohoe (fitness trainer originally from Belfast), Bill O’Kelly-Lynch (coaching-Galway), and Peter Hennessy (selector- originally from Belfast). A new, more disciplined coaching regime was instigated in the short run-up to the forthcoming Division 3 Championship quarter-final against Castlebar.

The team beat Castlebar at Easkey by 1-9 to 0-7 and knocked out Letterkenny IT in the semi-finals at Ballybofey 4-9 to 1-3. The final was played at Coleraine versus UUC and unfortunately we lost 2-12 to 3-6.

This year (1998/99) the current management team were strengthened by the addition of coach Ger Reilly, a former Westmeath county hurler and current Sligo county player, and the team benefited from disciplined training from the start of the academic year. The size of the panel was also increased with new students and some existing students discovering the club for the first time.

With the increased fresher numbers a freshers hurling team was formed this year for the first time. They were defeated by Dundalk IT in their opening match (0-8 to 0-5) and received a walkover versus QUB and UUJ.

It was a successful Division 2 league campaign. The Institute defeated all four Division 2 rivals during the winter semester ,namely Dundalk IT, Letterkenny IT, UUC, and Castlebar GMIT and captured the Division 2 title.

The Institute received a bye to the semi-final weekend stage of the Ryan Cup where we met Dundalk IT, the winners of their quarter-final tie versus NCI.

At the Ryan Cup Weekend the seniors defeated Dundalk IT 3-7 to 0-6 in the semi-final and UUC 1-5 to 0-5 in the final to lift the All Ireland Higher Education B trophy for the first time.

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