By Rory O'Donnell - PRO

Last Sunday saw fierce excitement and drama at the Irish Cultural Center, Canton Mass. There was a full house of just under 2,000 in attendance and the supporters certainly got value for money. There were four championships decided, and all in dramatic fashion.

Wexford captured the senior hurling championship from reigning champions, Galway. Galway featured several top tier hurlers in the side, notably Dublin's Liam Rushe and Cian McBride, Offaly men Brian Watkins and Stephen Brown, and Kilkenny's Eoin Guinan. Galway were cruising in the early going and looked a step ahead of the Wexford man, and also with about 10 minutes left and leading by 6 points, looked to have the winning of the game. Wexford hit with two goals. The first an amazing strike from Michael Moloney and the second a long range free from Paudie Kehoe that dropped into the net. Late points from Eoghan Kavanagh and Gearoid O'Connor sealed the deal and Wexford, against the odds, came out 3-14 to 0-20 winners.

It took extra time to decide the senior football championship. This time it was Donegal who looked like they had their hands on the trophy as the northerners led by 5 points with just about 5 minutes left. Shannon Blues kept pulgging away and a James Hynes goal followed by two injury time points from Sean O'Connor leveled the game. In the extra time period Donegal rattled off four unanswered points, but after that it was all Blues. Two goals in the second period from Cathal Cregg and Caolan Rafferty put the Blues into the lead and stunned Donegal as the Blues held on to win 4-13 to 1-17.

The Ladies senior football championship went to the Connacht Ladies in their first season. Jane Ward put in a superlative performance for Connacht Ladies who also featured young players who came through the underage system, Aisling Kerr and Jackie McDonagh. The Shamrocks were always chasing the game and got within a point in the later stages of the game, but could not quite overcome their opponents. Connacht Ladies ended up three point winners, 2-15 to 2-12.

At junior football level, Donegal won the junior A championship in a dramatic finish against Wolfe Tones, 1-8 to 0-10. Donegal dedicated their season to Thomas Maguire. The Ardara native had played in Boston for two seasons and died tragically in Australia earlier this year. The junior B football championship went to Cork who defeated arch rivals, Kerry, in convincing fashion 1-15 to 0-7. Fr. Tom Burke's took the junior A hurling championship with a win over Tipperary. Tom's got a fantastic performance from Cormac Joyce-Power. The Limerick native helped his side to a 0-24 to 2-16 extra time win. Junior C Hurling went to the New Hampshire side, Barley House Wolves. The side, composed mostly of Army National Guardsmen, comfortably defeated the Portland Hurling Club by a score of 4-16 to 0-6. The BHW dedicated their season to former player and fellow guardsman, Kevin T. Castelot, who passed away earlier this year.

Good luck to all the teams traveling from Boston and New England to the North American Finals in Philly at the weekend! Tweet

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