Denver Gaels host 5 teams at 4th Annual Colorado Irish Festival Tournament

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, Contact:
Tyler McNally
Public Relations Officer - Denver Gaels
+1-573-434-3000
tymcnally@gmail.com

Littleton, Co. -- The Denver Gaels GAA Club is playing host this weekend to five teams from all over the United States in its 4th Annual Colorado Irish Festival Tournament. As the burgeoning organization turns 13 in 2009, the club is also looking to spread its sports among a larger contingent of Colorado Irish.

The teams traveling from afar to take on the Denver squads this year include the Seattle Gaels hurling and women's football team, the Columbia Red Branch hurling team from Portland, Oregon, the Chicago Wolfe Tones men's football team, and San Diego Na Fianna women's football team.

At the 2009 Colorado Irish Festival, nearly 50,000 festival attendees are expected. The hurling and football matches will provide lively entertainment for many of them all day Saturday. The matches will be played on a regulation-sized pitch just outside the festival grounds of Clement Park in Littleton, a suburb of Denver. The Gaels will be on-hand to instruct any newcomers or interested attendees in some of the basics of the national sports of Ireland played in Colorado's own backyard. A recap of the weekend and the matches will be available next week.

Aside from serving as high-energy festival entertainment, these exhibition matches also double as training for national championship competition hosted in Boston over Labor Day Weekend.

The Denver Gaels have a history of success at the North American County Board (NACB) Finals. After just four years from the club's inception, the men's Gaelic football team brought home a trophy in 2000 as Junior B national champs, just two competitive levels below the best there is. In 2004, the Gaels hosted the North American County Board Finals in Boulder to critical acclaim. That same year, the club's new youth Gaelic football program was crowned both U12 and U14 national champions. With the inception of a hurling program five years ago, more national titles would arrive in 2007. The Junior C hurlers and, yet again, two more Denver youth teams brought back a total of three trophies to the Mile High City.

Most recently, at the 2008 NACB Finals, the Gaels were able to field not one, but two hurling teams, Junior B and Junior C, and also its first ever camogie squad for national competition.

2009 is ramping up to be even more successful for Denver's Irish athletic warriors. With more than 60 hurlers and approximately 40 footballers, the club is positioned well to field five teams in the NACB Finals. This weekend's competition will give all participating teams insight into the level of condition and ability required for the national tournament.