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Date - 21/04/07
Venue - Mid Ulster Sports Arena,
Cookstown
On
Saturday over 50 foreign nationals from
all over Ulster participated in an
International Gaelic Football tournament
organised by the Ulster Councils
Regional Development Officers, Diarmaid
Marsden, Paul Callaghan and Una McKay.
This was a follow on from the inaugural
tournament that took place in January.
Some of those teams that played in
January were back again to play their
new favourite sport. Newry Mitchell’s
have also received a diversity award for
their contribution to including all
nationalities in Gaelic games and their
training is going strong. Contact
Anthony Sloan on 07810375428 or Una
McKay 07920528793 if your club or
company would like to get involved in
this popular initiative.
The
RDOs have targeted various workplaces
across the province that employ a
significant migrant workforce. Basic
coaching sessions have been attended
well and the companies have really
bought into the whole idea. Some of the
guys are now interested in joining their
local clubs and essentially this is what
the whole initiative is about.
On
Saturday the following companies entered
the tournament.
Silverhill Foods, Emyvale
SDC
Trailers, Derry
Rye
Valley Foods, Carrickmacross
There was also a representative team
from Portadown Tir na nOg and another
team consisting of players from Donegal
town and Dungannon.
Unfortunately a representative team from
ABP meats, Lurgan and the winners of the
last tournament Newry Mitchels had work
commitments on this particular occasion,
and could not attend.
Nationalities from Lithuania, Latvia,
Poland, South Africa, Portugal, Brazil,
Iraq and Afghanistan were present for
this unique event.
Each team played a minimum of 4 games
and the standard of play was at times
superb considering that for some this
was a first attempt at competitive
gaelic football.
After the series of round robin games
Silverhill from Emyvale and Rye Valley
Foods from Carrickmacross emerged as the
two strongest teams.
In
a highly competitive final Rye Valley
Foods emerged victorious with a superb
performance of skill, athleticism and
score taking.
Pride of place goes to Eduards Laksa
(Eddie) from Lithuania who claimed the
player of the tournament award after an
impressive scoring display scoring 1
goal and 5 points from play in the
final.
Many thanks to the teams that
participated and to those companies that
helped organise a great day out for
their players and their numerous
supporters. Thanks also to the likes of
David Smyth (Portadown), Brendan McNally
(Emyvale) and Declan Farrelly (Rye
Valley Foods) who have helped to coach
the teams and manage them on the day.
A
big thank you has to go to Ulster Bank
who sponsored the whole event. The
winners and runners up were presented
with medals, while all participants were
presented with a T-shirt. Food was also
provided for everyone present.
This particular initiative seems to be
going from strength to strength and from
an Ulster Council point of view the fact
that the players are keen for more and
interested in joining their local clubs
makes it all worthwhile.
The
Ulster Council intend to target more
businesses and roll out specific
coaching sessions and more tournaments
over the next few months.
For
further information contact
Diarmaid Marsden 07920 528792.
dmarsden@ulster.gaa.ie
Paul Callaghan 07920 528786
pcallaghan@ulster.gaa.ie
Una McKay 07920 528793
umckay@ulster.gaa.ie |
