TEN Gaelic football clubs, 19 different teams, 180 kids, 250 burgers and hot dogs and an Arsenal legend were the ingredients for a great day of fun in Oxford last Bank Holiday Monday.
Gaelic football has been played in Oxford since 1959 and Éire Óg has always pushed itself to the fore in the Irish community in Oxfordshire.
In 2015 they restarted their youth programme after a break of ten years and in early 2016 the club started planning a 7s youth Gaelic football tournament in Oxford on the Monday of the Mayday Bank Holiday.
Many hours of meetings, e-mails, phone calls and calling in favours went into the planning of this event, but it was all worthwhile as Gunners hero and Match of the Day pundit Martin Keown turned up on day to the delight of the youngsters.
The tournament was for Under 8s, 10s and 12s and there was a huge turnout with teams from Coventry, Birmingham, Cambridge, Luton, Reading and London.
This was the biggest ever Gaelic football tournament held in Oxford and plans are already afoot for the 2017 Youth 7s tournament.
The icing on the cake was of course the arrival of special guest Keown, who presented the trophies and medals to the winning teams.
Keown, whose son Niall plays for Republic of Ireland U21s, has two Irish parents and played for Éire Óg Oxford in his formative years.
Congratulations to all who took part in the tournament and especially to the Winners St Dympna’s, North London Shamrocks, St. Anthony’s Reading and Sean McDermotts.
A huge thanks goes out to all of the teams who attended:
Sean McDermotts Birmingham
Roger Casements Coventry
Four Masters Coventry
Cambridge Parnells
Claddagh Gaels Luton
St. Dympna’s Luton
St. Anthony’s Reading
St Colmcilles
St. Albans
North London Shamrocks
Éire Óg Oxford
- If you are interested in playing Gaelic Football in Oxford at youth, Ladies or Men’s level please feel free to contact Tommy Griffin at [email protected] - you can see pictures of the event and more of what we do at http://www.eireogoxford.co.uk/
