PRO's ( J.P. Mc Sherry ) report for October 2002- The Hague and more..!

The Hague Tournament:

The highlight for St Kilians the year so far has been the Brendan Moloney memorial Gaelic football tournament in the Hague,Holland on the October 11-13 weekend. We again joined up with Frankfurt Sarsfields for the tournament. We arrived in the haague on the Friday after a long drive ( 650 Km from Wuerzburg)For others it was longer; Dave Knudson flew in from Detroit and the Beatha men, Noel Loughnane and Ronan Slattery flew in from Galway with two buddies HughO'Donnell and Keith Doorthy. Well done to ye lads!! From the Frankfurt side Pat Mc Namara drove all the way from Paris to make the tournament.. that's dedication. The rest of the Frankfurt boys came to the haague by mini bus. After meeting some colleagues in o'casey's pub ,Matthew and I had the unenviable task of locating the Galway crew. After going to the wrong station we finally met the boys. After an hour and after a half of doing our best to get lost in the Haague and coming across various types of Arab sheikh's and Jesus freaks imaginable we eventually got back to O'Casey's( of course we forgot the note the address of O'Casey's Pub and dispensed with notions of carrying a map). After a couple of pints it was a relatively early night( 03.00) but some of the lads went further afield .After being refused entry to most pubs in town ,Matthew and some of the lads found themselves in a bar called Ned Kelly's; sounded friendly until they were told that the owners didn't like the irish..Lovely. they finally made it back to the hotel around 06.30. As I was rooming with him there were some delightful noises to be heard! Between flagellation, sleep walking and talking I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

After a wonderful 2 hour sleep we were awoken by club chairman and captain Eoghan mentioning something about a tournament to be played. As reality dawned and the tiredness faded we realised Championship day had arrived. As we awaited our bus to pick us up at the hotel the foyer began to resemble a pig sty as the minutes passed..fag butts, plastic bottles, chip bags, stink feet were the order of the day as the boys counted down to the throw in. The tournament itself proved to be (nearly) a phenomenal success for Wuerzburg/Frankfurt. Along the way we destroyed Luxembourg, Munich , drew with the haague B and lost a titanic battle with Kilcommon. Having qualified for the semi-finals, we faced AIB bank and lost in another pulsating encounter. AIB went on to win the competition against Kilcommon ( Mayo) Great credit is due to all the Wuerzburg / Frankfurt players who took part. We gave all we had and as clichés go there's none better to describe the heart and guts shown by this team not to mention plenty of skill. Outstanding players from this writers viewpoint were Feargal Egan, Pat McNamara and Eoghan Mc Guire. it was a job well done....next year we intend to actually win a tournament outright. Congratulations to AIB on a great victory none the less. Thanks to the Frankfurt lads for joining up with us again......it's a match made in heaven and one which will in time bring ultimate glory.

In the ladies tournament teams from Paris, Brussels and Luxembourg battled it out before Luxembourg ran out the winners. Still the question begs; What are those "Luxembirds" on? I never before saw such a crowd of Neanderthals in all my life!! After the tournament we adjourned to Hotel Bijhorst for the after-match reception. A wonderful Dinner( although Matthew did have a complaint regarding the tardiness of the Brussels sprouts i.e after the main course) and presentation ceremony was followed by a lively ceili which rounded off a wonderful weekend for many;Some of us had enough energy to venture into the late Dutch evening into town to celebrate a momentous achievement for Wuerzburg St Kilians/Frankfurt Sarsfields. Most of the squad had already departed for Amsterdam early on in the evening and from feargal's comments they were too tired to make much of an impact! Matthew and I got a taxi and asked to be taken to a late bar for a comfortable late drink. All was going great until a buxom beauty got up on a pole and proceeded to take (some)of her clothes off.....it was obviously too warm for her. Ah the Dutch!!!!!!!!

To sum up it was a great weekend. Many thanks to the members of the Hague Irish club who organised a great tournament for us and especially to Mary Gavin. From the Wuerzburg viewpoint a lot of credit has to go to Matthew, unfortunately injured in recent months but who played a vital role for us among other things urging us on from the sidelines during every game and generally keeping the spirits up during the whole weekend.

Developments and upcoming events:

This weekend in the Hague certainly brought it home to me at least the real impact of the European GAA. Gaelic games are still a minority sport here on continental Europe but they are growing. In the last year alone GAA clubs have sprung up in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Munich , Helsinki, Zurich and of course Wuerzburg by Irish and other nationalities out of a simple love of the game thereby incurring huge expense but with great satisfaction.

Incidentally I was on I was on Tipp FM and Eoghan was also on Clare FM in the last few weeks discussing the trip to the Hague, the current state of the European GAA and development therein and the growth of Wuerzburg St Kilians.

I'll be on again this weekend on Tipp FM during the Ronan Quirke show on Saturday 12.00-14.00.I'll also be sending an article to the Tipperary Star for next week and have been promised an interview over Christmas. In the coming weeks we will be organising one last game before the season ends against our friends Frankfurt Sarsfields in a possible 8-a-side football match.

Slän!

Beir bua agus beannacht,

JP Mc Sherry PRO St Kilians Wuerzburg

St Kilians / Frankfurt Team - Hague EuroLeague Oct 2002 Results

St Kilians 2-5 Luxembourg 0-1

St Kilians 1-4 Den Haag 2-1

St Kilians 1-2 Kilcomann, Co Mayo 2-3

St Kilians 3-6 Munich 0-2

Halb Finale: St Kilians 1-3 AIB Dublin 3-5

Kilcommon 0-6 Den Haag A 0-2

Finale: AIB Dublin 4-9 Kilcommon 1-11

St Kilians / Frankfurt Team - Hague EuroLeague Oct 2002

Owen McGuire PP Ennistymon, Co Clare

2 JP McSherry - PP Borrisoleigh YES

3 Jens Nothnagel PP Thueringer Wald, YES

4 Dave Knudson PP Detroit, USA YES

5 Matt Doyle, PP Tullow, Co Carlow YES

6 Noel Loughnane, WE Beatha Co Galway NO

7 Ronan Slattery WE Beatha Co Galway NO

8 Feargal Egan Tobar, Co Offaly

9 Dan Kelleher Cork

10 Pat McNamara Limerick

11 Fergal Duggan Kilmihil, Co Clare

12 Dermot Haugh Kilmihil, Co Clare

13 Derek Byrne Dublin

14 Oliver McBrearty Donegal

Team Picture (to be added soon)