International Hurling Festival 'Throws in' today in Galway
September 18, 2013
Allentown are ready to go.
Sixteen overseas teams will participate in the competition including teams from New York, San Francisco, Canada, the UK, Continental Europe, the Middle East and Australia. The tournament will also serve as an opportunity to promote the game of hurling in developing regions by including teams such as Buenos Aires, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and a European team made up of non-Irish nationals.
The qualifying games will take place in regional towns, Loughrea, Ballinasloe and Gort with the finals being staged at Pearse Stadium. This unique festival will also bring together the 'Best of Irish' with a full food, craft and entertainment schedule of events planned for Saturday 21 September at the Salthill grounds.
Teams from across the globe have descended on Galway including, The Barley House Wolves whom were founded by members of C Co, 3/172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) of the New Hampshire Army National Guard upon redeployment from Iraq in 2005, will travel to Galway this September to take part in the Aer Lingus in partnership with Etihad Airways, International Hurling Festival.
The Australasia team is made up of the All Stars selected at the 2012 Championships which were held in Perth. Players come from 3 units of the association viz. Western Australia (Perth), New South Wales (Sydney) and Queensland (Brisbane)
The Rest of Britain Team will draw players from clubs right across Britain, from Fullen Gaels to John Mitchells, from St Barnabas to Emeralds, and from Wolfe Tones to right across Counties such as Hertfordshire and Gloucestershire. The Middle East All Stars team will make their hurling debut in Ireland as part of the Aer Lingus in partnership with Etihad International Hurling Festival.
London club Kilburn Gaels are being hosted in Gort for the duration of their stay and they are a club who, since being formed in 1997, have developed very strong links with the Gort area. Players such as Shane Linnane, Tomás Fahy, Peter Naughton, Cathal Forde, Niall Forde (all Gort), Conor Tannian (Ardrahan) and John Walsh (Beagh) have all represented the Kilburn Gaels club with distinction over the years
The Aer Lingus International Hurling Festival will run from Wednesday 18 to Saturday 21 September 2013. For more information log onto , www.hurlingfestival.com, Like www.facebook.com/aerlingushurling or Follow www.twitter.com/AerLingusFest
Some quotes from travelling teams after their arrival in Galway:
Quotes:
Allentown Hibernians Hurling Club Secretary John Driscoll explains, "For our club playing outside of America may be the greatest thrill ever. Many times over the years we have been told this sport will never be taken for real outside of Ireland. To be recognized by the GAA and Aer Lingus as a part of this great sport we are honoured. We intend fully to show that we are passionate about the sport and will compete with everything we have.
Middle East Chairman, James Kennedy stated "we are delighted to be part of this wonderful initiative by the GAA and Aer Lingus. Everyone is looking forward to competing in Galway, where the Middle East All Stars will be making their debut and I can't think of a more fitting occasion for that to happen."
Barley House Wolves Junior C Captain Warren M. Perry "The Festival has given a massive boost to the club. Our members have been looking forward to this all season long. We are delighted to have an opportunity to see and play hurling in its native land.
Our club travelled to Galway in the spring of 2010 to take in some sights and play in a few matches. We played against both the St. Mary's GAA Junior C Team in Athenry as well as an infantry team out of Renmore barracks. Given our history there, we are delighted to be back."
Big Apple Ripe to travel to Galway
New York returns to competitive hurling after a hiatus when they send a squad with a deridingly Galway look to the inaugural International Hurling Festival
After the highs of an Ulster final versus Antrim in 2005, the Big Apple had a number of challenges over the years including games versus Cappawhite and Kildangan, both Tipperary travelling sides. They now battle for the division one title with Borresileigh man Donnacha O'Dwyer at the helm. He has as his selectors Tommy Fahey, from Waterford with John Kelly Clontuskurt and Eugene Kyne Turloughmore by his side.
There are four Galway natives on the panel of players. Paul Loughnane from Cappataggle who won back to back minor titles with the Tribesmen's in 2004 and 2005, while Brian Glynn from Ardrahan is a brother of current Galway player Jonathan. Ger Kelly from Tommie Larkin's was on the Galway NY side that narrowly lost the NY final to Tipperary with Danny Breen from Liam Mellows on the Long Island Gaels squad.
Padraig Kyne, son of Eugene, is one of two American born and raised players on the panel; Stephen Moroney from Rockland is the other. Pat Egan who hails from Tipperary and Fintan Meehan from New Market on Fergus Co Clare were team mates of Loughnane when Tipperary won the New York title in a nail biting finish in August. While David Hallinan is one of three players from Waterford on the squad- he was also a three point scorer in the NY Junior final when his Ulster side defeated Hoboken Guards in a pulsating contest that went down to the wire before the winners prevailed 2-13 to 3-09.
New hurling regions to star at International Hurling Festival
Two of the teams travelling to International Hurling Festival in September are Buenos Aries and Allentown (US), not areas you would traditional associate with hurling- but areas that are now flourishing in a sport that is allowing their team and club to travel to Galway to take part in the first ever International Hurling Festival in partnership with Aer Lingus and Etihad.
In 2012, Connacht Hurling Director Damien Coleman under a directive from the GAA' was sent to Buenos Aries, to a small town called Hurling Ham, where he embarked on a two week adventure to energise the hurling club and deliver on coach education.
The Hurling Club, whose chairman Ronnie Quinn is third generation Irish has evolved from the rugby and hockey teams, the two main sports in this region and has an amazing 2,000 members. "We went with a 3 pronged approach taking in the juvenile and adult section within the club. We delivered a foundation level coaching course through an interpreter, this was a first for me!" remarked Damien.
"There was serious interest from everyone at the club, to find out more about the game of hurling but also in technical side of the game and its coaching techniques. Hockey is one of the biggest sports in the country and the coaches from these teams sat in and participated on the foundation course and were looking to see how the GAA coaching templates could in fact, benefit their game!"
From Damien's trip, a 3 month window was identified where the GAA season could run. "This is a definite work in progress, the GAA season now runs for 8-12 weeks and already since the trip there has been 3 exhibition matches between Argentina and Ireland, these matches have lead to help the selection for the team to travel to Galway for the International Hurling Festival. In the last game the Argentinean Hurling team had their first win over Ireland which is showing the progress of their development."
This potential of this project was spotted by Pat Daly, GAA National Coaching Director and through the two week trip and the ongoing work by the club executive, hurling is continuing to grow and the fruits of this will be displayed during their time here in September playing in the International Hurling Festival.
Back in the US, The Allentown Hibernians Hurling Club was started early in 2008 when Pat O'Donnell met Jeff Purtell, who would go on to become the first club chairman. Jeff realized it may be possible to start a club after hearing about the success of other American-born hurling clubs in the US.
Hurling looked very appealing to him, however Pat had no idea what it was! Almost immediately the recruitment drive started. Jeff bought a couple dozen hurls/sliotars and they held their first team practice, at that time the team consisted of Jeff, Pat and Pat's brother Danny. Things weren't looking too promising!!
Things began to progress and a few months in the club and team were now registered as a Junior C Division side within Philadelphia GAA. The team has continued to grow in numbers and in substance, hosting a Tournament in 2011 and in 2012 with four teams playing.
Club Secretary John Driscoll explains, "For our club playing outside of America may be the greatest thrill ever. Many times over the years we have been told this sport will never be taken for real outside of Ireland. To be recognized by the GAA and Aer Lingus as a part of this great sport we are honoured. We intend fully to show that we are passionate about the sport and will compete with everything we have.
With only three or four members who have lived in Ireland the club, this festival will give an opportunity for us all to experience Ireland together! At the larger competitions there are chances to meet people who came from Ireland. These meetings gave many of our member s their first chance to meet a true Irishman. Irish tunes are often played at our events. We put on an Irish fry after a Thursday evening round of games last year and served almost forty people. The majority never had tasted black or white pudding and a rasher before. We even count out our push ups in Irish to get a little of the language into our guys minds.
The festival has definitely added an air of excitement but the selection process also added a certain stress level to the early part of our season. As things smooth out this will become a major topic of conversation. The opportunity to represent the United States of America in an event such as this is an honour. To go to Galway with its rich hurling traditions is fantastic. For many who are new to the sport the name Joe Canning is the first that comes to mind when we discuss video clips we watched. To play in his county means a lot."
Athenry hurling stalwart at the helm of St Gabriel's Hurling Club
The St Gabriel's Hurling Club in London was founded in 1961 and has had a glorious and illustrious 52 years history. The clubs success in October 2012 in adding another London Senior Hurling Championship to bring our total to 15 titles puts St Gabriel's at the summit as the most successful existing hurling club in London's GAA History.
Their county title success in early October was added to in early November when they won their 10th Ryan Cup. In early February 2013 the club reached the All Ireland Intermediate Club final in Croke Park and although they did not win, it was a great occasion for the club to play in an All-Ireland final at the GAA's historic home for the first time.
Over the past 52 years, the club has had a huge impact on the London GAA landscape with players and officers representing London, and also by promoting the ideals of the Gaelic Athletic Association in the UK capital. The St Gabriel's club crest sports the following slogan 'Ag Couthú Na hIomána', meaning 'Promoting Hurling'
The Senior Team is captained in 2013 by Offaly native Neil Rogers. He joined the club in 2012 and was part the championship winning team that year. With his native club Birr, he won an All Ireland Club championship back in 2002.
The Chairman of the club is Kerril Burke from Athenry in Galway. Kerril has been involved with the club for nearly 50 years and has served in almost every capacity including player, manager, chairman, president and much more.
He hit the headline in April of last year, when our second team had only 14 players starting the second of a league fixture against Thomas McCurtains in Goodmayes. Facing having to forfeit the game, Kerril duly put on a pair of boots, a jersey and a helmet and stood in corner forward. Not one to shy away from the action even at 74 years of age he got stuck in straight away.
It was a close match and with only a few minutes left a high was hit in around the McCurtains square, Kerril put up the hurley and flicked the ball into the bottom corner of the net, thus sealing victory for the Gabriels.
News of the 74 year olds match winning goal soon went viral on the internet and Kerril was on National Radio in Ireland the following day retelling the story. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," said Kerril. "Will I play again? I'd never say never. I've warned the senior players to watch their backs. Nobody's place is safe," he added jokingly.
Training in East Lane in a corner of North West London, a stone's throw from the famous Wembley stadium, it's good to know that the game of hurling is alive and well in the hearts of Irish emigrants who now live and work in the big city of London. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, the skills of the game that were inherited from Ireland can be seen as young men from Kerry to Sligo and Galway to Dublin congregate to hone their skills of the great game.
Melvin Loughnane St Gabriel's Club Secretary explains, "We are honoured and delighted to have received the invitation to the festival. It will give the players and management a chance to show case their skills to their families and friends in Galway.
The club has a very close association with County Galway. While the club has hurlers from all over Ireland, we have traditionally had more hurlers from Galway than any other counties. This can be traced back the clubs beginnings, with four Galway men responsible for its foundations which were Packie Grealish (Carnmore), Marty Treacy (Cappatagle), Paddy Malone (Kilconnell) and P.J. Noone (Cappatagle)."
The St Gabriel's Galway Connections:
Chairman, Kerril Burke is a native of Athenry, (But he'll also tell you that he is a native of Oranmore!!!)
Vice Chairman, Tom Conneely is a native of Connemara.
Senior Team Manager, Tommy Duane is a native of Athenry.
Selectors Eamon Sheil and Mick Nevin are from Woodford any Eyrecourt respectively.
Chairman of the GAA's Provincial Council of Britain, Brendie Brien is a Killimor native.
Club President, Mick Kenny is from Kiltormer.
Vice Presidents, Padraic Colohan, Matty Burke and Mick Corcoran are all Galway natives also. Tweet
