European Senior Champions, Amsterdam Gaelic Athletic Club have Croke Park firmly in their sights, as they take their first steps into the Leinster Junior Championship at the weekend.

This Saturday, at 16:00hrs in Maastricht, The Netherlands, all treaties will be thrown out the window, when Dublin Junior Champions, Craobh Chiarain, take on Amsterdam GAC.

Amsterdam's entry into the All Ireland Junior Championship is due to Europe GAA being a member of the Leinster GAA Council, and as of 2013, the European Senior Champions, enter into the Leinster Junior Championship. Amsterdam emerged victorious in the European GAA Championship final three weeks ago, against a resilient Belgium team with a final score line of 1-08 to 0-08, to earn their first senior European Championship.

The club has been on the up over the past three years, adding the European Intermediate Championship in 2011, Benelux Senior & Intermediate Championships in 2012, and European Senior B Championship in 2013 to their ever-growing trophy cabinet. However the one trophy that eluded them since forming in 2003 was the Senior Championship cup, and the victory & homecoming was worth the 11 year wait!

Galway native, Colm Brennan, who captained Amsterdam to their European success, paid tribute to dedication of the Amsterdam squad; "It's been a long season but we believe that Saturday's match could be a springboard to an even longer season, ending in Croke Park next February. We set the target back in January to win the 15 a-side Championship, and to achieve it has been fantastic. In European GAA, 11 a-side is usually played and to focus most our trainings on both 11 a-side and 15 a-side formations and tactics has meant that we had to work twice as hard. The European 11 a-side Championship takes place on October 18th and we also have our eyes firmly set on putting a second European trophy in the cabinet".

Saturday will be a firm test of the Dutch team's resolve, but Monaghan man, and Amsterdam coach, Brendan Finnegan believes that his Amsterdam team have more than just Dutch courage up their sleeves. "Craobh Chiarain will be the biggest test this club has faced in 11 years, and we have a lot of respect for them coming in as the Dublin champions. However we have played Irish & UK opposition before in a number of invitational tournaments, including our own one on St. Patrick's Day 2013, to mark our 10 year anniversary. So, we won't have anything to fear and coming in as underdog's suits us just fine. We were underdogs in Europe for a long time and have slowly risen to the top tier alongside strong teams such as Belgium & Guernsey, and this is a great opportunity for us to go one further".

Amsterdam GAC chairperson, Derek McElhinney has praised both the European & Leinster Boards for facilitating entry into the Leinster Championship; "It's a fantastic opportunity for a European club to get a crack at an Irish championship and our European Board has worked tirelessly to get recognition for the work European clubs do to promote gaelic games abroad. We won the European Intermediate Championship in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick in 2011, and played at Athlone IT last year for the European finals, and we couldn't have it done it without the Leinster Board stepping up to the plate to support us.

Com Brennan agrees with this sentiment and views Saturday as not just a match for the Amsterdam club; "This is a great opportunity for us a club, but we're equally as proud to be representing Europe. Our neighbours, Belgium, have been extremely supportive of us since the European final and seeing their support reminds us that Saturday is a big day for Europe GAA. We hope Saturday is the first of many proud days for the club, and for Europe, and get us one step closer to Croke Park!"

More information regarding Amsterdam Gaelic Club is available at http://www.amsterdamgac.nl

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