GAA in Britain

[Maroon Manc]

What was the Lancs starting 15?

1 Peters goalie (not sure of name)
2 Monaghan (Brendans)
3 Gilligan (Peters)
4 Plant (Brendans)
5 R Gallagher (Peters)
6 Ryder (Peters)
7 K Connolly (Brendans)
8 Morris (Peters)
9 Sands (Brendans)
10 Murtgah (Brendans)
11 McGurk (Mitchels)
12 McMahon (Brendans)
13 Goldrick (Lawrences)
14 O'Malley (Peters)
15 Nolan    (Peters)

Oisins wouldn't put any players forward apparently for reasons I won't go into on here, not sure why the Mitchels lad couldn't play.

[Zulu]

Scotland play Warwickshire in the British junior final next Sunday at 2pm in pairc na hEireann.

[Zulu]

Scotland are British champions after a deserved win over Warwickshire in today's final at Birmingham. The game ended 3-10 to 2-7 and Scotland now play Cavan in the junior All Ireland semi final on August 9th, mostly likely in Edinburgh.

[Maroon Manc]

John Mitchels beat St Peters by 12 points yesterday in the championship. Odd game, Peters dominant for first 15 minutes, must have been 6/7 points clear. Mitchels got on top of the middle 3rd and never looked back. Very impressive from Mitchels, as usual always the team to beat.

Peters play Lawrences in a play off with the winners playing Mitchels in the semi.
Brendans play Oisins in the other semi.

[Zulu]

Best of luck to the Scotland junior footballers who play Cavan in the All Ireland semi Final today. Throw in is 6.30pm at Edinburgh and it should be a great game.

[BennyHarp]

Best of luck to the Scotland junior footballers who play Cavan in the All Ireland semi Final today. Throw in is 6.30pm at Edinburgh and it should be a great game.

+1 I was there when they hammered Yorkshire up in Newcastle and they looked very impressive (granted, Yorkshire where very weak that day). Best of luck to all concerned. Zulu, could you post the final score? Cheers.

[Zulu]

Will do Benny. There'll be live updates on twitter - @ScotlandGAA if you have internet access as well. I think they've a good chance but it's always hard to tell how a British team compares to Irish ones when you've so few games, especially against decent opposition.

[BennyHarp]

Will do Benny. There'll be live updates on twitter - @ScotlandGAA if you have internet access as well. I think they've a good chance but it's always hard to tell how a British team compares to Irish ones when you've so few games, especially against decent opposition.

Cheers, I'll follow that this evening

[Zulu]

1-17 to 0-6 it finished. Cavan way too strong for our boys. I was surprised by how easily they beat us as I think we have a decent team but they really were streets ahead. The lack of consistent quality football over here is a problem for all British teams when competing against Irish ones but I don't think we would have beaten them even if that wasn't the case. The Cavan lads were a nice bunch and I hope they go on and beat Kerry in the final.

[BennyHarp]

1-17 to 0-6 it finished. Cavan way too strong for our boys. I was surprised by how easily they beat us as I think we have a decent team but they really were streets ahead. The lack of consistent quality football over here is a problem for all British teams when competing against Irish ones but I don't think we would have beaten them even if that wasn't the case. The Cavan lads were a nice bunch and I hope they go on and beat Kerry in the final.

I saw the result earlier. Cavan take the competition fairly seriously and are most likely full of lads who have been successful at minor and u21 level in Ulster and are fighting for a place in the senior squad. It's still a good achievement to win the All Britain for Scotland due to the amount of travelling they are required to do, which can make it difficult to get players to commit as I know only too well with Yorkshire.

[Zulu]

It was basically Dunedin Connollys on the Scotland squad, only 3 from other clubs and I'm not sure any of them started today. It'll be interesting to see how Cavan get on against Kerry but based on the other semi final result we might have given Sligo a good go had we got them. Still a good day for football in the county overall.

[carnaross]

Congratulations to John Mitchel's and Wolfe Tones on wining their divisions of the Pennine League.

[theticklemister]

Congratulations to John Mitchel's and Wolfe Tones on wining their divisions of the Pennine League.

Thanks lad. Good season so far for us with championship to come. I left after our game so don't know the squads for the senior game but I know ourselves and Lawrences were missing a lot of men. This is the most important time of year for football but August kills teams as a lot of players are away home.

[theticklemister]

LIVERPOOL IRISH FESTIVAL

Lads I am organising two GAA blitzes, one for men and one for ladies during the Liverpool Irish Festival. The dates are 25th October and 1st November. The teams involved will be clubs and universities from the north-west of England. I have emailed secretaries of all clubs in and around this area. If you have had heard no word and you would like to be involved please let me know.

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What a way to celebrate our gaelic games than to have it for the first time in the Liverpool Irish Festival; the Roswick's men and ladies GAA blitz is to be played over two weekends promises to be something special. This competition is unique in the fact that not only is this the inaugural competition but it brings together university and club teams from throughout the north-west of England.

Liverpool is home to two GAA clubs; the Wolfe Tones and John Mitchels. Incidentally, as I write this piece the two clubs have won their respective Pennine League competitions at the weekend. This is a testament to how strong the GAA is in Liverpool at the minute. The two clubs have successful ladies teams and underage teams also; with the Wolfe Tones boasting a hurling team.

The Rosewick GAA blitz competitions are  7 a-side and are to be played over two weekends, the men and ladies on consecutive weekends. The games are to be primarily based in Mystery Park in Wavertree home of the Wolfe Tones, if there are more teams wishing to get involved then John Mitchel's Greenbank pitch will be used also.

This promises to be two great weekends of Gaelic football in Liverpool, a fantastic way
to promote our unique games in a city steeped in Irish culture.

Keep an eye on twitter and facebook for more information about the competition.

[theticklemister]

Wolfe Tones capture Pennine League

Liverpool Wolfe Tones 3-18 v 1-04 St.Lawrences


Although the final scoreline resulted in a comprehensive victory for the Wolfe Tones, the score at half –time was a far cry from how it finished. There were only 5 points in it at the break and the men from Liverpool had to play into a strong gale with intervals of rain for the second-half. To their credit, they dug deep with ball in hand to emerge deserved winners and capture their second cup of the year.

The month of August, when the cups get handed out; just a pity the majority of players from the Wolfe Tones and St.Lawrences were not present to grace the final. The same will probably be the case as the Junior Championship rolls onto the semi-final stage next week, the cramped fixture list and the unavailability of senior players when the senior league shuts down for a month; being the cause why such big games have to be played in the month of August. This month hits a lot of clubs hard as they have to deal with players returning to Ireland and holidays; something maybe for the county board to look into for the following year.

This final was played in Autumn conditions with the Tones choosing to play with the conditions at their back. They began well and kicked 7 points without reply in the opening 12 minutes through the accuracy from frees and play of Errigal Ciarain man Dara McCullough, who would finish with a tally of 7 points; 6 of those coming in the opening half. St.Lawrences then motored into action and hit 1-02 in the space of a 5 minute spell of madness when the Wolfe Tones simply fell asleep. First two points, one a well-taken long-range free from Paul Duffy on the far right; narrowed the gap to 5 points. Then goalkeeper Richie Barry repelled an effort, before a 14 metre free ended up in the back of the Wolfe Tones net even though there were 5 men in green, white and yellow standing on the line. So after a solid 15 minute spell from Wolfe Tones, they now led just by 2 points with 8 minutes remaining of the half. There was frustration in the Wolfe Tones play; they shot from goal from a long way out, they over kicked passes and fumbled simple ball. Late points from McCullough, Nigel Grennan and Caomhain Scanlon for the Tones left the scoreline at the break 0-09 v 1-02. St.Lawrences would be quite happy with this, they did not play well and now had a gale at their back for 30 minutes. Many of those watching the game would concur with such sentiments.

The opening 5 minutes of the half would be the litmus test for both teams of how the game would unfold; the Wolfe Tones passed this with flying colours. In the space of 5 minutes they had rattled off 2-02, with Peter Cosgrove now playing in the corner getting 2-01. They killed the game as a contest within this time and from then on they would not look back. Grennan then would continue his great form of late, as he calmly slid the ball under the advances of the St.Lawrences goalkeeper. These 3 goals all came through the same way as the Wolfe Tones kept the ball in hand and found the free men in space. A temptation of hitting the ball long with the wind negated this smart use of the ball in the opening half and it did not play to the Wolfe Tones strengths. A new hunger also was found as they mopped up a lot of breaking ball and the central influence of James Daly was also a deciding factor in a colossal second half. Further points from Cristy Harkin, Kevin Foley and Daly finished the scoring for the day as St.Lawrences only registered 2 points in the second-half.

Both teams now have their eye on the Junior Championship with St,Lawrences entering the backdoor and the Wolfe Tones already into the semi-final after a convincing win against St.Peters. The Wolfe Tones will still class their season as a failure if they fail to make it 3 pieces of silverware this year;  all eyes on the championship so.

Great thanks to all the Wolfe Tones fans who came up to cheer us on including a lot from the ladies team, club chairman and our sponsors from Capital Steel who has shown great support to the club over the last 2 years.

Richie Barry (Cork); Mickey Doherty (Donegal), John Eustace (Wicklow); Peter Cosgrove (Monaghan, 2-01), Paul Carey (Westmeath), Johnny Cleary (Tipperary); Cristy Harkin (Donegal, 0-02, capt) Caomhain Scanlon (Dublin, 0-01); Tony O'Leary (Dublin), Nigel Grennan (Offaly, 1-04), James Daly (Westmeath 0-02); Dara McCullough (Tyrone, 0-07), Adam O'Hare (Antrim)

Subs used: Kevin Foley (Kerry, 0-01), James McCann (Fermanagh), Jason Finnegan (Louth)

Manager: Cathal Harkin (Derry)