Report by Margot Hughes.

It was all hands on deck throughout the counties of Wicklow, Wexford and Carlow at the weekend as clubs all over the counties welcomed visiting teams from all over Ireland and from as far away as New York and Philadelphia to compete in the single largest sporting event for young people staged in this country to date. At Pearses' Park AGB U14 boys welcomed Gloucestershire from England and the U14 Girls' teams welcomed Glyde Rangers from Louth and Cill Iseal from Tyrone.
John Murphy and his hard working team had the park in mint condition and everything in place for Dee Hurley and her catering team to offer the best of AGB hospitality to the visitors and the home crowd alike.  Jimmy Dunne, our esteemed Féile Official, was on hand throughout Friday evening and Saturday to answer queries as they arose and was ably assisted on site by Mick Healy.

On the field of play the youngsters did their respective clubs proud. The AGB Division I girls topped their group with three wins out of three. Having exceeded all expectations they sadly lost out to old rivals St. Pat's in the quarter final in Páirc Gharman on Saturday evening. St. Pat's went on to win Division I beating Royal Gaels of Meath in the final in extra time. What a great boost for ladies football in Wicklow and well done to St. Pat's! The Division V girls were narrowly beaten in their opening games and a victory over Newtown on Saturday was not sufficient to see them through. Their visiting friends from Louth, Glyde Rangers lost out in the semi-final to Mount Leinster Rangers and these were subsequently beaten by St. Ailbe's from Limerick in the final. The boys, having lost their opening games, defeated their visiting friends from Gloucestershire in their third encounter which resulted in both teams qualifying for the Div VIII shield semi-finals. AGB were narrowly beaten by Stratford-Grangecon. Gloucestershire were beaten by Palatine GAA from Carlow, who went on to win the Division 8 shield title.

After a second busy day of travelling and competing it was back to the Arklow Rocks Clubhouse on Saturday evening for a presentation disco and some refreshments. Here presentations were made to the visiting clubs and Pat Fitzgerald, Vice Chairman of Wicklow County Council, welcomed the visiting teams, their mentors and their wonderful supporters and encouraged all of the young people to keep up their sporting efforts. He expressed the wish that they might return to Arklow for a return visit in the future.

Gifts were presented to AGB on behalf of the visiting clubs and the evening drew necessarily to an early close as both AGB U14 boys and Glyde Rangers U14 girls had semi-finals to play the next morning.

This was a truly memorable weekend when Pearses' Park, like so many other venues throughout the sunny southeast, was a hive of excitement and activity. The girls and boys looked fabulous in their new club tracksuits and were wonderful ambassadors for Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney. Parents hosted the visiting players and looked after them to the very best. Club volunteers, too numerous to mention, worked tirelessly to ensure that the young people had a terrific experience of Féile Peil na N-Óg in Arklow. Congratulations to all on a super job and well done Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney!

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