2 March 2016
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Have you ever heard of Aspira? Less than four weeks ago the firm announced the recruitment of 50 new staff, and now tit’s back in the headlines for becoming a principal sponsor for Cork City FC for the 2016 season.
Reuben Flynn (10) Whitegate, Charlie Murphy (10) Carrigaline, Jamie Walsh (8) Whitegate, Killian Santos (7) Ballincollig, Dylan Kearns (5) Rostellan, Jackson Kearns (7) Rostellan, Sean OÕCallaghan (9) Whitegate, Aaron Kearns (10) Rostellan with Cork City FC Players Gearoid Morrissey, Captain John Dunleavy and Stephen Beattie at the announcement that Aspira is to become a principal sponsor of the football club
Pic Darragh Kane
The IT specialist company has been an avid Cork City supporter since its establishment in 2007, and has watched the Leesiders go from strength to strength as its own business grew. The sponsorship deal will see the new Aspira logo on the back of the players’ jerseys.
Aspira, which is wholly Irish-owned and has its headquarters in Little Island, has had a particularly strong 2015– much like the Rebel Army it supports. It experienced accelerated growth of 65% in 2015 and in February 2016 announced the creation of 50 new Irish jobs, as well as the acquisition of an IT services firm.
Cork City has also started off 2016 on the right foot (pun intended), with a 2–0 victory over Dundalk to win the President’s Cup at Turner’s Cross last week.
Speaking about the new sponsorship deal, Aspira CEO Pat Lucey said “Aspira has always been a huge supporter of Cork City and the club was a natural choice for us to sponsor. We see many parallels with our own company, particularly their resilience through the tough times and determination to succeed – which has paid off in recent years.”
Mr Lucey continued “Like Aspira, Cork City also had a great 2015 and were serious contenders for the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title, narrowly missing out. We know they will give another stellar performance in 2016 and we will be proud to see our new logo on their backs as they ‘aspire’ to win the League this season.
Aspira always has Cork very much at its heart and we are delighted with this opportunity to become even more closely involved with the local community. We are particularly proud to sponsor a team that nurtures young players and talent and provides such great community events for local children to attend.”
Cork City CEO Tim Murphy said “We are delighted with this show of support from Aspira, a company that has always been steadfastly behind our team. We have started the 2016 season on a strong footing with an impressive win over Dundalk to clinch the President’s Cup and we will continue to build on this success – and on our record in the Airtricity League for the past two seasons. With Aspira on our jerseys, we hope we can reach the top this year.”
Aspira caters for a diverse, international client base, including leading players in the IT, financial services, pharma/med devices, healthcare and energy sectors. It provides end-to-end IT enterprise solutions including supply and installation of IT hardware and software licensing and support, expert consultancy, design and implementation of bespoke IT solutions and project management.
