Hosted in a different city each year, the Asian Gaelic Games (AGG) since its foundation 15 years ago has witnessed tremendous growth with this year seeing some 57 teams from 22 clubs congregate from as far away as Dubai, India, Malaysia and Mongolia for top honors and the sheer enjoyment of playing Gaelic Sports.The AGG is a 9-a-side  tournament featuring mens and ladies football, hurling with this year seeing the sport of Camogie taking its inaugural bow in this tournament.

This year’s three day event began on Friday, Oct 14 and here to tell us about all the competitions, the winners, and the task of organization is ‘Games Director and Seoul GAA Treasurer, Helen Cooke.

Listen here: 28:54

Tim takes us though all the championship games and finals we hadn’t touched on in Podcast 1.

18:29

San Francisco GAA had the honor of hosting this year’s Nationals where over three days from Sept 2-4 at their new facilities at Treasure Island, teams from all across America and Canada gathered for men’s and ladies’ football, hurling, and camogie competition in an impressive 95 games.

In Podcast 1 we look back on all the action with Northeast GAA PRO, Rory O’Donnell and Canada GAA Secretary, John O’Flynn, who give their perspective on their respective regions and teams performances.

25:15

In Podcast 2 coming up later, North American GAA PRO, Tim Flanagan gives us a rundown on all the championship action.

2011 NACB Finals Results

Sydney Michael Cusack's celebrate Sunday's NSW football championship win at Mono Park, Sydney. (Photo courtesy of Michael Cusacks GAA club).

Reigning football champions, Sydney Michael Cusacks, hurling kingpins, Sydney Shamrock’s and ladies football heroines, Central Coast, retained their New South Wales GAA Championship titles yesterday, Sunday Sept 4th, at Mono Park, Sydney.

In a repeat of last year’s senior football final clash with Clan na Gael, it was a case of the same again for Michael Cusack’s as last year’s heroes ran out comfortable 10 points winners over ‘Clan.
It has been a tremendous year for the football side of the ‘Cusack’s club as Sunday’s victory saw them achieve a championship and league double this season.

However, when it came to the ancient game, it was the hurlers of Sydney Shamrock’s who once again proved to have the edge over arch rivals and this summer’s league winners, ‘Cusack’s when beating the men in red by three points in a low scoring game.

In the ladies championship final, it was the juggernaut that is Central Coast who once more took the spoils this time accounting for Cormac McAnallens in the final.

We did have a new championship winner in Camogie though as new kid on the block ‘Cusacks outgunned title holders ‘Coast by 9 points.

(No podcast with this post).

2011 NSW GAA Championship Finals Results

NSW GAA Championship Finals Schedule, Sept  4, 2011
Mono Park, Sydney

2011 NSW GAA Championship Semi Final Results

The event is being hosted this year by San Francisco GAA at their new facility, Pairc na nGael at Treasure Island and over the next three days some 85 teams from all across America will be joined by their neighbors, Canada for a festival of hurling, mens football, ladies football and camogie.

In today’s podcast we take a look at the representation from Canada when talking with Canada GAA Secretary, John Flynn , and also chat with North American GAA PRO, Tim Flanagan about the event, the teams and what it means for participants.

Listen here: 20:19

The 8^th annual CYC saw some 100 teams in action at U8 through U18 from all across America, Canada, England and Ireland.
The first three days saw sunshine but finals day on Sunday saw rain yet it didn’t dampen spirits.

A significant development was the prominence of hurling and camogie during this championship with noticeable high skill levels and a good spread of winners.

New York hurling won titles at U8 and U14, with Boston winning at U10, San Francisco tops in U12 and St Jarlaith’s from Cleveland impressing with the U16 title.
In Camogie we had wins for Rockland, NY (U8), Boston U10 and San Francisco at U12 and U14.

The main events of the championship saw Premier football and hurling action with visitors Lancashire (UK) taking the Minor football title when beating New York by a point, while the Premier Minor ladies championship went to North America (NACB) who beat NY, also by the minimum.
In the Premier Football U16 final, New York had a comfortable win over NACB, however, N. America got their revenge with an impressive display in the Premier U16 hurling decider when ousting NY.

Elsewhere, regular football action saw good wins for Rockland at U8, U10, U12  in both boys and girls. In the U16 and U18 girls football finals, St Brigid’s of Chicago got the better of Boston.
Meanwhile, the Delco Gaels from Delaware impressed in winning the football U14 Boys A title; New York club St. Barnabas won U16 A, and Rockland took the U18 A championship.

There was tremendous atmosphere at all age level games for the four days with parents and relatives cheering on their teams and very much into the spirit of this growing North American GAA youth championship.

Northeast GAA PRO, Rory O’Donnell contributed to report.
(No podcast with post).

This 8^th annual Continental Youth Championships (CYC) started early this morning and over the next four days will see some 100 teams from all across America, including New York and Canada with invited teams from England and Ireland all in action.

This tournament is the showpiece for underage GAA youth development in North America and will see competition in all four codes from U8 through U18.

It takes a mammoth task to organize this event each year which is expected to attract 2,000 participants and thousands of spectators to this growing tournament.

To get a feel for the scale of the four day event, we here from Boston Northeast Games Development Administrator (GDA), Mike Moynihan and Northeast GAA PRO, Rory O’Donnell.

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On Sunday we saw football league and defending champs, Michael Cusacks remain undefeated, while the big two in hurling ‘Cusacks and Sydney Shamrocks went at it once more.

In football, ‘Cusacks played Cormac McAnallens and came out on top by 4 points, while in the other championship clash, Penrith Gaels saw off Young Irelands by a single point. 
Penrith have been going well in the championship this year and with a game in hand over the rest of the field, they now lead the table.

The big clash of the weekend in hurling was between champion’s Sydney Shamrocks and their great rivals and recent league winner’s, Michael Cusacks. 
In the first round, ‘Shamrocks had beaten their rivals but it was ‘Cusacks who came roaring back on Sunday with a comfortable 8 point win.
In the other hurling match, Craobh Padraig routed Central Coast and the table now sees, Shamrocks and ‘Cusacks share the lead with Craobh Padraig next.

In the Ladies Football Championship, table leaders and champions, Central Coast are undefeated and remain the one’s to beat. On Sunday they had a comprehensive victory over second place McAnallens, while Clan na Gael edged out YI by the minimum.

Meanwhile in Camogie, McAnallens had a very good win over table leaders ‘Cusacks, while league and defending champs ‘Coast easily accounted for Clan.

Results NSW Champs, July 31, 2011

The prior week’s Round 2 games had seen wins in hurling for leaders, Sydney Shamrocks and Michael Cusacks, while in mens football there was wins also for last year’s winners and runners-up, ‘Cusacks and Clan na Gael respectively.

In Ladies football, Michael Cusacks and Cormac McAnallens were on song – with Central Coast getting a BYE game – while in Camogie Clan had a comfortable win over Craobh Padraig, but we saw a reversal of the recent league final result when newcomers ‘Cusacks this time did the business over Central Coast.

Last weekend’s senior hurling action saw a high scoring thriller between defending champions Sydney Shamrocks and Craobh Padraig, with ‘Shamrocks edging it by three in the end. Meanwhile, league champions ‘Cusacks had an easy win over ‘Coast.

In Mens football, Penrith Gaels had a good two point win over ‘McAnallens, while the ‘Clan and Young Ireland’s game ended in a draw. This week ‘Cusacks had the BYE game.

The ladies football action saw the all conquering ‘Coast put ‘Cuscaks to the sword with a win also for ‘McAnallens over ’Clan. YI had a BYE.

Finally in Camogie, ‘Cusacks had an impressive win over ‘Clan, while McAnallens shut out ‘Craobh Padraig.  ‘McAnallens had the BYE.

2011 NSW GAA Championship R2 & R3 Results

NOTE: Results posted when to hand from Sydney. 
Recent results kindly given by the Michael Cusacks club. 

Action from the hurling final between Zurich (black) and Den Haag. (Photo courtesy of Zurich Inneoin).

One of the performances of the season saw Zurich Inneoin hurling club overcome rivals Den Haag in a thrilling finale to last weekend’s 3rd round of the 2011 European Hurling Champi0nship, in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Zurich side, with a half a dozen Swiss and international players, out-gunned Den Haag – who had won the prior two tournaments – to take their first tournament win in five years. Result Final – Zurich [16] 2-10 Den Haag [14] 0-14.

In Camogie meanwhile, Paris joined hosts Zurich and championship leaders, Belgium, for this tournament, but it was the Zurich side who caused a shock when beating Paris with effectively an all Swiss team to reach the final.
However Belgium proved too strong in the final.
Here to tell us about both competitions is Zurich club member and European Hurling Officer, Trevor Keating, and, club secretary and Swiss camogie player, Linda Bruetsch.

27:08

Action from last year's football league final. (Photo courtesy of NSW GAA).

Despite the best efforts of mother nature, scuppering two weekends of Gaelic sports in Sydney over the past number of weeks, this year’s New South Wales (NSW) GAA League action has gone according to plan for all the top fancies.

Last year’s football champion’s, Michael Cusacks lead the way in their table and look the team to beat once more.
In hurling, champs Sydney Shamrocks also remain unbeaten and look set to reach the final where they should come up against their great rivals ‘Cusacks.

In Ladies football, Central Coast continue to dominate and lead the league, however, a surprise has been thrown up in Camogie as Michael Cusacks have come from nowhere to top the table and stake their claim to silverware.

Here to tell us about this year’s season to date is NSW GAA Secretary, Mark McGuinness.

20:15

Hosts and tournament winners, Den Haag (Black-Amber) in action against Belgium in Round 1 of this year's European Hurling Championship. (Photo by Jeroen Tibbe).

It turned out to be a fantastic opening weekend for both European hurling and camogie last Saturday, as competitive games of a high standard was the order for Round 1 of this year’s European Hurling and Camogie Championship at the Hague, Holland. 

The mens hurling decider between hosts Den Hague and Zurich was a thrilling final as the game went to Over Time with the locals narrowly coming away with a two point win.
In the Camogie, Belgium A ladies out-goaled a gallant Paris side in another exciting final. 

It was an early beginning for all last Saturday with the first games throwing in at 9.30 am in the morning and the temperature already hovering at 25 degrees. 
The Mens competition format saw four teams play 4 x 15 minutes games, while in the Ladies five teams played 5 games of 12.5 minutes. 

The hurling began with Belgium playing Luxembourg and after a close match, Belgium came out on top winning 0-8 to 0-4. Next Den Haag played Zurich, and quickly found out that this Zurich team were well up for it, with players performing like they had been training together all winter.
Den Haag’s backs were in trouble, a goal blitz ensued and it ended with a Zurich win [17] 4-5 to [12] 1-9, leaving hosts the Hague with a mountain to climb.
Next game was Den Haag versus Belgium. Den Haag knew they had to at least win their next two games to get to the final but it wouldn’t be easy against reigning champs, Belgium. Den Haag solved its problems in the back and secured a tight win, beating Belgium [8] 1-5 to [6] 1-3.
Up next, Luxembourg against the form team, Zurich. The Swiss outfit with natives in their side, won it in style  [21] 2-15 to [[8] 0-8; the result confirming their favourite status. Next Zurich and Belgium played, this was a crunch tie for Belgium, as they had to win to have any chance of reaching the final.
Belgium trailed by a point at half time, however a goal late in the second period gave Belgium the win [8] 1-05 to [7] 0-7.
Den Haag had the fortunate situation of knowing they now had to beat Luxembourg by at least 6 points to secure a place in the final. The Hague’s coach for the day Sean Simpson, wisely didn’t tell the players the amount they had to win by and only let them know at the end of the game.
There was little to fear however as they ran out comfortable winners. Belgium went on to win 3rd place playoff against Luxembourg.
The final saw Den Haag and Zurich square off once again.
Zurich started better and kept a lead for most of the game, however, with a minute to go and Den Haag 4 points down, a goal from Shane O’ Sullivan followed by a point from Noel Dillon, saw the hosts grab a  2-8 draw and extra time. Zurich got on the board first with a goal, but the Hague boys dug deep and scored 5 points in the second period of extra time to deny an unlucky Zurich. 

It's all action around the Luxembourg (red-blue) square as Zurich pile on the pressure in a game at Rd 1 of the European Camogie Championship. (Photo by Jeroen Tibbe).

The Ladies Camogie was the big surprise, not only because they had more teams than the men for the first time in European hurling history, but also because the standard was of an order higher than ever witnessed before.   

The Paris ladies looked the team to beat as they went unbeaten in the early rounds. Going well aslo was Belgium A early on and both Paris and Belgium met in the final.
In a highly skilled and exciting match, the Belgium Ladies percevered by a goal on a scoreline of [22] 6-4 to [19] 5-4.   

Chairman of Den Hague GAA, Mathew Morris pleased with the tournament outcome, said afterwards that the hurling was very competitive and very little separates the teams in the championship. He also said that the ladies tournament success could point to uncharted waters for the future.   

“I was delighted with the tournament, because all hurling teams were only a puck of the ball away from winning on the day, which means that there is competition now between all teams, which can only be good for European hurling.
“The Camogie was also of a really high standard and will overtake the men’s if it keeps going this way. I would also like to thank the referees for there hard work all day in that heat,”  The Hague chairman said. 

36:48

Based in Swatragh in County Derry, P O Kane Hurls is a member of the Irish Guild of Ash Hurley Makers, an elite set of 50 members who produce hurls for the top hurlers around the country and globe.

To mark the occasion, GaelicSportsCast features P O Kane Hurls in a podcast outlining the fascinating story of how Pat O Kane’s lifelong passion for hurling and camogie, steered him on retirement to begin and craft the art of hurley making.

He began by making hurls by hand for his beloved champion camogie club Swatragh but word spread of the quality of his work; demand grew and soon he was supplying hurling and camogie clubs, schools and colleges throughout Ireland and indeed to clubs worldwide.

Pat’s son Gabriel, who along with a dedicated team of staff, works with his father in the business and in this special episode of GaelicSportsCast, he tells about the process involved in making a hurl and recounts the P O Kane Hurls story.

  25:54

 33:40

DC Gaels American born football and camogie players at the NBC4 Health Expo (l to r) Caitlin Blanford, Mary Beth Ginder, Courtney Blanford, Christine Thorton, and Maureen Dorsett (Photo courtesy of Washington DC Gaels).

The hard efforts by the mostly All American club, the Washington D.C. Gaels in promoting Gaelic sports in the D.C. region, seem to be paying off as their participation in last January’s NBC4 Health and Fitness Expo has reaped rich reward.
The club, which does not depend on Irish summer immigrants for its existence, is very pro-active as regards recruitement and prefers to recruit athletes from colleges, schools, gyms, and universities rather than folks sitting on bar stools. Their ‘Guerrilla Hurling’ in downtown D.C. back in February caught the city by surprise and has Washington folk still talking !
The D.C. Gaels had a great showing at the NBC 4 Health & Fitness Expo on January 16th and 17th at the Washington Convention Center.  Over 85,000 people attended the ‘Expo where D.C. Gaels players shared their expertise about the sports of Gaelic football, hurling and camogie.
As a direct result of the ‘Expo, the D.C. Gaels will now be collaborating with Gonzaga High School, the Miss DC International pageant, and a local YMCA branch to spread the love of Gaelic games in the community.  And, on the recruitment front at the NBC event, over 50 people signed up to attend the Gaels spring field days and to get fit through Gaelic sports.
The D.C. Gaels hope to make their participation in the Washington D.C. NBC 4 Health & Fitness Expo a yearly event and to continue to endorse Gaelic sports as a fun fitness option.
The D.C. Gaels compete in the Mid Atlantic Division of the North American GAA and has teams in mens and ladies football, camogie and hurling and have won national titles in all four codes over the past two years. Recently, the all American camogie team went to the National Finals in Chicago and came away with the  C level Camogie championship.

Luxembourg Hurling and Camogie squads. (Photo by Luxembourg Gaelic Sports Club).

In Rd 2 of the European Hurling and Camogie Championships at Luxembourg last weekend, we had the largest  club turnout to date make this a very entertaining and successful event. Last time out, Belgium in hurling and hosts Luxembourg in Camogie, walked away with the honours from Rd 1 in early May at the Hague in Holland. And, it was no different last Saturday when Belgium in the final proved too strong for the host club on a scoreline of 5-6 (21) to 1-6 (9), while in Camogie Luxembourg continued where they left off last month when edging out Belgium by 4-0 (12) to 2-4 (10). In the hurling teams from five countries participated with clubs in Belgium, The Hague, Zurich, Paris and the host Luxembourg competing, while in Camogie, teams from Belgium, Zurich and Luxembourg took to the field on the day. To tell us all about the tournament is Luxembourg Gaelic Sports Club Secretary, Damien Higgins.

11:17

Lux_Hurling & Camogie Tournament_Results May 29, 2010

Getting ready for a new beginning last week in Mono Park. (Photo Aoifa Daly).

After being defeated last week on Opening Day in Sydney, 2009 Championship winners, Young Ireland ‘s got back to winning ways in this year’s NSW Mens Football League.
In a rather scrappy encounter against Cormac Mc Anallens, ‘Irelands prevailed by a couple of points in a game that never really rose to the heights.
This week also saw Clan na Gael ladies recover from a slow start last week when they were just too strong for Michael Cusacks and dominated all over the field to pick up their first win of the season in the Ladies League. 
Central Coast ladies powered to another easy win.  The victims this week were Cormac Mc Anallens who simply had no answer to this fine Central Coast team.
In Camogie, it was a similar story as ‘Coast ran out easy winners over ‘McAnallens in a one-sided affair.
Something of a surprise was recorded in the other Camogie game when Clan na Gael picked up a win over Naomh Padraig, and while not to take away from this fine win by Clan’, it is understood that Naomh Padraig were short key players.
Aoifa Daly
(Who again, not only played, but umpired, and, moved house this weekend also!  Well done, Aoifa).

On the return of NSW GAA Secretary, Mark McGuinness from Ireland, GaelicSportsCast will be giving you full results and Podcast  reports on the games each week through the season.

NSW have been the most successful State in the Australasian championships. Last year, NSW club Michael Cusacks won the 2009 Hurling Championships.

For the first time this season and long overdue it has to be said, GaelicSportsCast pays a visit to the land down under, Australia. Here we speak with New South Wales GAA Secretary, Dundalk native, Mark McGuinness about the explosion of Gaelic players in Sydney and surrounds,; about the local clubs and the annual competitions,  as well as the recent challenge of finding a new venue as NSW GAA recently said goodbye to their home of 21 years at Princes Park, Auburn.

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