football in auckland

graham-hill16 · January 14, 2008, 07:42:43 AM

spent a bit of time living in NZ recently,played football for auckland harps an was an absolute lifesaver to hav some home comforts over there and swappin club an county stories with the lads from rival teams. A big thanks goes to the ppl on the board over there who work year in year out and work so hard to make us all settle in and feel welcome, only to have us all leave and hav to start again with a new bunch of ppl but they still plug on and do outstanding work. but what needs to be done is the GAA back home need to send over some more funds,footballs are like golddust(whoever has played there will agree!!!)they rely on family and friends to post some over,they make the most of the little they hav and never moan but a little help would be nice from the top boys! if any of the crew read this,keep up all the hard work,ye hav no idea the difference ye make to the hoards of travelling irish!!! slan agus banacht!!

ps. 'on the harps' !!!!!!! 'there's only 1 mick o'malley!!!!!

irunthev · January 14, 2008, 02:39:47 PM

Played in Auckand about 10 years ago and also had a great time. I still have a lot of contact with the guys in NZ and met up with O'Malley and Rocky and the legend that is Jim Gallagher in Sydney at the Australasian games last October. I know him over 20 years and he really is a good fella. I played for Marist Rangers in my time out there.

graham-hill16 · January 15, 2008, 12:58:43 AM

yea the boys are some laugh alright,rocky had a good year,won the mens league and womens double,played rangers myself in the semi final,we won well in the end even tho bernie mc cahill tried goin to town on a couple of us with flyin elbows but he ended up breakin his finger and thumb that game!! some great ppl runnin it out there and had some of the best days but mostly nites of me life with the whole lot!! good times!!

ludermor · January 15, 2008, 11:02:27 AM

was in new zealand over the christmas and one of the lads with us had a mate who was having a stag in wellington. A gang of his stag mates (nearly all killarney lads) played against the local wellington team in a game, great craic altogether.

irunthev · January 15, 2008, 01:03:54 PM

Bernie must be 45 by now. He played along with me in London for 2 years when he was coaching at Harlequins. I have known him for well over 20 years, he's a great lad, but very very competitive. You don't become an All Black without that bit of an edge. He won a senior league medal in London about 2000. He marked Jody Gormley in the final (Jody played for Tir Chonaill Gaels) and didn't give Jody a smell of it.

Mickey Linden · January 15, 2008, 03:45:03 PM

I was in New Zealand this time last year. Great craic all together. Played a bit of football for the harps. Mick O malley and a lot of others doing a great job over there. We won the chapionship in 2006. Who won it 2007?

graham-hill16 · January 15, 2008, 11:53:11 PM

well mickey,gaels won the championship this year,bet us(harps) by 4 or 5 points,just wasnt our ay at all,but mick is still there givin her socks callin to an end of all the wishy-washy football as he calls it!! great man!!

graham-hill16 · January 15, 2008, 11:58:25 PM

Quote from: irunthev on January 15, 2008, 01:03:54 PM
Bernie must be 45 by now. He played along with me in London for 2 years when he was coaching at Harlequins. I have known him for well over 20 years, he's a great lad, but very very competitive. You don't become an All Black without that bit of an edge. He won a senior league medal in London about 2000. He marked Jody Gormley in the final (Jody played for Tir Chonaill Gaels) and didn't give Jody a smell of it.

yea he's got a competitive streak in him alright,sound man tho we sat down and had a couple of beers before he had to head to A & E cos of the hand!! ah we took them well in the semi final,must hav bet them by about 10 points in the end but he was missin cos of the hand,not a bad footballer tho!

Mickey Linden · January 16, 2008, 10:31:05 AM

Who got footballer of the year this year in Auckland? Oisin Lynch won it last year. He played for the harps and was a fine footballer. He went on to represent Kildare hurlers in croke park this year and won kildare hurler of the year.

graham-hill16 · January 17, 2008, 06:12:58 AM

Quote from: Mickey Linden on January 16, 2008, 10:31:05 AM
Who got footballer of the year this year in Auckland? Oisin Lynch won it last year. He played for the harps and was a fine footballer. He went on to represent Kildare hurlers in croke park this year and won kildare hurler of the year.

not to sure who got player of the year il find out off one of the boys,i was late to the awards nite cos the car broke down the top of cape reinga and we had to hitch back to auckland. colm donnelly from tyrone won harps player of the year(he won the tyrone championship with dromore last year) and the legend that is feilim gormley won harps players player of the year. david carmody(gaels) won player of the year at the australasian games in sydney,might hav won auckland player too,il find out and get back to ya. heard all about oisin,sure mick was on the bubbles one nite(one nite says u!!) and he was talkin about flyin oisin over for the final! any sign of him playin football for kildare?

Mickey Linden · January 17, 2008, 10:52:40 AM

think Oisin gives most of his time to hurling so as yet has not played any football for the lillywhites. Were there many seasoned campaigners playing for the harps? When I was there Doire Reid, Seamie Brennan and Felim Gormley were all seasoned campaigners!

graham-hill16 · January 17, 2008, 11:48:58 AM

Quote from: Mickey Linden on January 17, 2008, 10:52:40 AM
think Oisin gives most of his time to hurling so as yet has not played any football for the lillywhites. Were there many seasoned campaigners playing for the harps? When I was there Doire Reid, Seamie Brennan and Felim Gormley were all seasoned campaigners!

yea they were all there swearin it was there last year,martin conlan was superb in goal all year,some man!! mick whitty was there playin well but sadly his ma passed so he went home before the final for the funeral. bernie and kramer still there for the sessions and noel quinlivins young lad had a great year for us,so he'l do well in the future