Sometimes the GAA might be a bit confusing for beginnners (and some long term players as well!) so we thought it might be handy to have a list of the most used GAA phrases and terminologiesto help everyone along and keep them up to speed on the game.  Some of them are not for the faint of hearted.

Essential Terms for players, managers, coaches, Mums, Dads, general relatives and family and of course spectators of the GAA

Bollix: – The Referee

Mighty :- Very good

Hames :- A right shite, e.g. ‘He made a hames of that chance’

Timber: – Intimidation of a hurling opponent, e.g. ‘Show him some timber’

Lamp :- A good  thump, e.g. ‘I swung for the sliotar (goal), missed by 3 feet and lamped the full back’

A Crowd :- A gathering of  people who watch a match and hope for random acts of violence, e.g. Waterford supporters

Schkelp: – To remove living tissue in the absence of surgical procedures,e.g. ‘That shite from Tipperary took a schkelp outta me leg’

Hatchet Man :- Mountainy type, uses hunter/gatherer instincts

Bullin’: – Angry, e.g. ‘The centre half was bullin’ after I lamped him’

Bull Thick: – Very angry, e.g. ‘The centre half was bull thick after I Iamped him again’

Joult: – A push, e.g. ‘I  gave him a joult and he has to wear a neck brace for 2 weeks’

The Comm-A-Teee: – Local GAA bullshitters in general

Bushted :- An undefined soreness, e.g. ‘Jayz me arm is bushted’

The Bomber :-  Popular name for a fat hairy GAA player who shouts and sings alot.

A Hang Sangwidge :- Consumed with ‘tay’ on the sides of roads after matches in Pairc Ui Chaoimh or Thurles, usually contains half  a pound of butter

Rake: – A great amount of  anything, usually pints of Guinness the night before an important match

Indanamajaysus (in-da-nama-Jaysus): – What was that for referee?

Ya Bollix Ya :- Corner back’s formal recognition of a score by his opponent

Leh-It-In-Ta-Fuck-Wud-Ya :- Full forwards appeal to a midfielder for a more timely delivery of the pass

Mullocker: – Untidy or awkward player released for matches

Burst The Bollix :- Instructions from the sideline to tackle your man

Row :- Disagreement  involving four or more players

Shamozzle: – Disagreement involving both teams, including goalies, substitutes and  supporters jumping fences

All-Hell-Broke-Loose :- A massive row that continues out in the parking area or dressing room areas, usually resolved by the Gardai (Police) … very popular in Wicklow

Big thanks to Seamus Whooley who runs a golf in Spain travel agency for the cool list.

Harps Make It a Double Championship in Catalan Capital
By Lorcan Kennedy, JJ Keaney and Aisling Daly

We may be in the throes of the World Cup; Spain, England and France may all be struggling to progress and Ireland may not even be there but in the Iberian GAA world there was only one tournament of any importance this June – the final and deciding round of the 2010 Iberian Championship.

After Madrid’s victory in the men’s round in Pamplona two weeks previously the stage was set for a showdown in Barcelona on Saturday June 19th. With Sant Vicent of Valencia, Barcelona Gaels and Madrid Harps all within touching distance of each other there were no complicated permutations to work out. Put simply, it was a case of the winner takes all. Not so for the ladies; with three wins and a second place spot in the previous four tournaments, they had already put their hands on the Cup. Their presence alone in Barcelona would be sufficient to clinch the Championship and they duly obliged.

And so it was that on Friday the Harps and Harpettes boarded their chartered bus for the long haul to the shores of the Mediterranean and a date with some old rivals. Focus and concentration was the order of the day for the eight hour trek across Spain´s North East.

MEN GAA Iberia Final

As dawn broke on the verge of the summer solstice the Harps were still resting, but everyone was fed and watered by the time the bus arrived at 09:30. The atmosphere was eerily muted as individuals focused on the task ahead. In addition to the three Iberian teams, and in the absence of Pamplona, 23 hardy souls made the trip down from Toulouse and Lyon, although the results against the French teams were not to be taken into account for the business-end of the day.

A first round meeting with Valencia was sufficient to concentrate the energies with victory being absolutely crucial. With the sun soaring towards its zenith the Harps and Valencia took to the field. Madrid had reclaimed their bragging rights after victory in Pamplona but this was the
biggest game of the year to date with the loser likely to face elimination. After some early exchanges of parity the Madrid boys started to get the upper hand with a goal midway through the half. Valencia had plenty of pace up front and converted some fine points to keep themselves well in this tie.

As the second half progressed the Harps were able to call on their panel of players to provide fresh impetus up front when needed and a second goal duly arrived. Valencia legs began to tire, preventing a late comeback. Madrid won with a four point margin over their opponents. Final Score: Madrid Harps 2-7; Sant Vicent Valencia 0-9

Barcelona-Valencia was next on the cards, with Valencia needing a win to have any chance of reaching the final on aggregate score difference. Barcelona’s forwards ran riot however, and the game was practically over as a contest in the first half, although the men from Valencia kept plugging away to the end, to no avail.
Final Score: Barcelona Gaels 3-7; Sant Vicent Valencia 1-2

Given these results the group game between title-holders Barcelona & Madrid was a bit of a damp squib, both teams choosing to make sure all squad-members got a run-out, testing tactics and looking for a chink in their opponent’s armour, with a draw at four points as the final result.
Final Score: Barcelona Gaels 0-4; Madrid Harps 0-4

So it was back to the shade for both teams and an opportunity to relax and do some fine tuning for the final whilst our guests from France (Toulouse and Lyon) went head to head and got another opportunity to show their skills. As the main even approached, a light shower blew across cooling things down and making conditions ideal for the final.

The final was to be a different matter than their previous clash, with both teams almost at full strength, although Madrid had lost their main free-taker to a hamstring injury during an earlier match. Barcelona got off to a flying start, racking up a 3 point lead in the first minutes, as some erratic goal-kicks and loose defending had Madrid’s nerves on edge. At this point a lightning break down the pitch led to an excellently taken goal from the Madrid lads, and morale was quickly restored.

Towards the end of the half an excellent save from the Madrid goalkeeper, combined with several missed chances for the Gaels, meant that at halftime the teams were still level. The 2010 Championship would go right down to the wire – everything was to be decided in 15 minutes of football…

On the resumption it was Madrid who took the bull by the horns. In midfield every breaking ball was hotly contested whilst the forwards scurried into the spaces, garnering possession and tacking on the points. At the back, any Barcelona attacks were competently dealt with and the ball recycled back down the field. A goal midway through the half put five points between the teams and things were looking ominous for the Catalans.

But as expected they did rally and were denied a goal by the crossbar and some heroic defending. The Harps were to have more goal opportunities of their own but couldn’t convert. On the final whistle, the Harps held a six point difference and the 2010 Iberian Championship Title was on its way back to Madrid after a year in Catalan hands.
Final Score: Madrid Harps 2-4; Barcelona Gaels 0-4

With this result, Madrid Harps proclaimed themselves worthy winners of the 2010 Men’s Championship, with 2 tournament wins, 2 runner-up spots – and 3rd place in their home tournament! One of the most curious aspects of this year’s competition is that no team managed to win their home event – perhaps the pressures of organising these increasingly complicated competitions distracts teams from the job in hand on the day on the pitch?

The competitive nature of the Regional Championship is clearly shown by the fact that no team has ever managed to retain the title – Madrid now move to the top of the honours list with 3 titles (2010, 2008, 2005), to Barcelona’s 2 (2009, 2007) and Marbella’s 1 (2006).

LADIES GAA Iberia Final

A fantastic day’s football was also had in the Ladies Tournament, with Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid chasing the silverware on offer to the winners of the tournament. Madrid’s Harpettes had already assured the overall Championship title with a victory in the previous round in Pamplona.

Madrid, despite losing key players to injuries & holidays, managed to field 6 players, while Valencia showed up with a good group of 11 or 12 ladies and Barcelona provided an impressive team of 18 or 19 girls. Also among the girls were two ladies from the Toulouse team, Jill and Sarah, who came along ready and excited to get at the ball.

And so the first match kicked off between the Madrid Harpettes and the Barcelona Gaelettes. Due to the new regulations requiring ladies to play 9 a side, the Harpettes were happy to add the Toulouse girls to their squad, as well as two other Barcelona girls. This match was a tough one for the Madrid ladies, who were feeling the effects of the never-ending battering force of the Barcelona girls, whose strength failed to dwindle due to a large number of substitutions.

However the Harpettes kept up the hard fight and in the end only lost the match by 2 points.
Final score Barcelona Gales 1-06; Madrid Harps 1-04

After a quick break it was the Barcelona ladies against the Valencia San Vincent ladies. TheValencia girls gave a good effort in this match and fought hard until the end, but the Gaelettes stamped out a strong leading victory of 8 points.
Final score Barcelona Gales 1-13; Valencia St. Vincents 1-05

Up next it was the Madrid Harpettes against the Valencia ladies. The game started out even enough, but in the second half the Harpettes’ forward line performed some heavy scoring and won the match.
Final score Madrid Harps 2-08; Valencia St. Vincents 0-04

Finally it was on to the tournament final between the Madrid ladies and the Barcelona Gaelettes. After gaining a few additions from the Valencia team, especially a rather impressive goalie, the Madrid ladies were suddenly alight with the renewed hope that they could win this tournament.

Boots dug into the ground, legs flexed, and teeth ground. This match was the hardest fought of the tournament for the ladies, who were neck and neck up until the last few minutes. Some impressive ball work was shown by Toulouse’s Jill and Sarah, as well as Isabel Laguna on the Madrid side, and Dee Curran on Barcelona’s side, who went on to win MVP of the tournament. A goal and some well-taken points in the last few minutes gave Barcelona a quick decisive victory by 4 points.
Final score Barcelona Gales 2-08; Madrid Harps 0-10

Festivities were heavy for both sides during the night, with the Gaelettes celebrating winning their home tournament and the Harpettes celebrating their reign as the Iberian League Champions for the second year in a row. You will notice that few names have been mentioned in this report. This is because the football played was truly a team effort right from the first tournament in Valencia to Marbella, Madrid, Pamplona and finally to Barcelona.

A special thanks to all those boys and girls who donned the Harp’s jersey and especially to those who donned a GAA jersey for the first time. Madrid Harps are always looking for new members and EVERYONE is welcome.

Finally, a special mention must be given to the other participating teams this year – Pamplona, newly-formed Seville, dark horses of the Madrid tournament the San Agustin ladies team, and the reborn Marbella Costa Gaels – for the effort invested in organising tournaments and
travelling consistently.

Roll on Europe, and the 2011 Championship!
Madrid Harps Teams that travelled to Barcelona:
Men: M.A. de la Barrera; S. Canive; A. Chambers; R. Cooney; M. Conroy; S. Donegan; D.
Hennessy; J.J. Keaney; D. Kearney; D. Kelly; L. Kennedy; E. Lester; M. Manners; C. McCloy; G.
Nuñez; P. O´Brien; C. Rodríguez; J. San Blas; J. Vicente.
Ladies: I. Alberdi, D. Alonso, M. Beltrán, A. Daly, I. Laguna, L. Lenaghan, P. Lenahan (injured)

Pictured at the launch of the International Gaelic Football Camp in Marbella is Kieran Kennedy (O’Neill’s Sportswear) with coaches Peter Canavan, Benny Tierney and Enda Kilpatrick.

Peter, Benny and Enda will be joined at the camp by coaches from the Costa Gaels club as well as former Galway star Sean óg de Paor. Held in the picturesque setting of Ojen the camp will run this year from Monday 13th to Friday 17th July
inclusive.

To book a place on the camp or to arrange accommodation contact Shirley on 0034 665 054 858 or email john@blackhorsemanagement.com

Website: Madrid GAA

The Barcelona Gaels and San Agustín de Guadalix are the Stars of the Show

Madrid, May 9th, by Aisling Daly

The third round of the 2010 Iberian Gaelic football championship was held this Saturday, the 8th of May, in Spain’s buzzing capital, Madrid. The Harps, the hosting team, spent days preparing for the arrival of the other participating teams, the Barcelona Gaels, San Vincent of Valencia, the Naomh Fermin Pamplona men, the Seville men’s team, and the ladies team of San Agustín de Guadalix.

The tournament was a good demonstration of the growth of Gaelic football in Spain. The Seville men’s team, new to the Iberian League this year, made their first trip to play in Madrid.

Other newcomers in the tournament were the ladies of the recently formed team from San Agustín de Guadalix, in the North of Madrid, who came to the tournament with only 5 players and made quite an impact. The best example yet of the increasing popularity of Gaelic football was the Madrid men’s team, who had so many players that they needed to split into an A and a B team in order to give everyone the opportunity to play. The two referees of the tournament were Guillaume Kerrien and Eoin Campbell, who was participating in his first match in the European GAA League.

So it was that around 9.00 on Saturday morning, sleepy looking players from around the country made their way to the Cantarranas pitches. Travelling out was made difficult for quite a few people, especially the two referees, as the ash cloud from a recently erupted volcano in Iceland made a second appearance over Spain, and there were major resulting delays in air travel. In the end however, everyone made it and a big sigh of relief was heaved. The Harps were also relieved to find that the weather provided ideal conditions for players, with lovely cool, but sunny day enjoyed by all.

All the players of the tournament were honoured by the attendance of the Ambassador, Justin Harman. After several photos were taken and all the teams were changed, warmed-up and ready to go, Ambassador Harman performed the throw-in, and the first match of the day began between the Barcelona men and Pamplona.

Although Barcelona were the victors of this match, scoring a goal and 7 points, to Pamplona’s 3 points, Pamplona put up a strong fight, showing with every tournament their increasing ball skills. Running alongside this match on an adjacent pitch was the first ladies game between Valencia and Barcelona. The fight was evenly matched on this side of the field as well, with the Barcelona ladies coming out the winners by a narrow margin of 3 points. Next up for the men was Madrid’s B team and Valencia, with Valencia stamping out a victory of 8 points to the Harp’s 2 points.

Iberian Championship 2010 – Round 3 – Tournament Report

Back to the ladies and it was Madrid against newcomers San Agustín de Guadalix. Although the Harpettes were victorious in the match, the improvement of the ladies of San Agustín de Guadalix could be seen with every passing minute. The players’ past experience in playing on high-ranking handball and soccer teams equipped them with the speed, strength and ball skills required to play Gaelic football. Up next for the men were Pamplona and the young players of Seville, who took a high scoring victory of 3 goals and 8 points to Pamplona’s 2 points. Over on the ladies side, Madrid remained on the pitch and fought out a clear victory over the Valencia girls.

Back to the lads and it was Valencia vs. Madrid’s team A, with Valencia stamping out their win. Back again to the ladies side and it was Barcelona vs. San Agustín, followed directly by Valencia vs. San Agustín, with San Agustín showing their increasing talent and ability and taking clear wins in both games.

On the lads side Seville’s swift strides gave the Gaels a good run around, but Barcelona stood their ground and came out victorious. The following men’s match proved to be an interesting spectacle for all with the Madrid men’s A and B team facing off, and the resulting tension running high. Madrid A proved to be the better team in this game, scoring a goal and 5 points while the B team didn’t manage to score any.

It was now on to the next round for both the men and ladies teams, with the women progressing to the final match and the men to the semi-finals. The main contenders in the semis were Barcelona vs. Madrid A and Valencia vs. Seville. Madrid A vs.Barcelona proved to be a hard fight for both sides, with the Barcelona men coming out once again victorious. The game between Valencia and Seville was also closely matched in ability, with Valencia winning by a margin of four points. Following this Madrid B and Pamplona contended for 5th place, with Pamplona taking a clear victory and winning by two goals.

The ladies final proved to be quite an eventful one. Both teams fought at an evenly matched pace, with the final whistle catching the Harpettes off guard and leaving them with the sinking realisation that they had lost their home tournament to the newcomers. The men’s final between Barcelona and Valencia was probably the most hard-fought and evenly matched game of the tournament, with extra time being needed to decide the champions. In the end Barcelona pulled through, winning by 3 points. A fairly even match was played after between Seville and Madrid A, who fought for 3rd place. In the end Madrid A took the lead in a points shoot-out, securing 3rd place and leaving the Seville team in 4th.

As the matches wound down, all the players headed home to clean up and rest and then arrived for the meal and celebrations looking fresher and sporting varying shades of pink and red, thanks to the day’s persistent sunshine. The trophies for the winning teams were accepted by Niall Brennan for the Barcelona Gael’s men’s team and Menchu for the ladies of San Agustín de Guadalix. Following this it was time for the referees to present the awards for player of the tournament, which were given to
Niall Brennan of the Barcelona men’s team and Martina Rooney of the Madrid Harpettes. All teams then went on to celebrate their according wins, awards, losses, triumphs, weak points and otherwise with a long night of dancing and general merriment.

Iberian Championship 2010 – Round 3 – Tournament Report
The Madrid Harp’s would like to give special thanks to Ambassador Justin Harman for attending the tournament and opening the day’s events, as well as the two referees, Eoin Campbell and Guillaume Kerrien, who both travelled far to attend and refereed all matches in a very professional and agreeable manner. A big thank you also goes out to our team president, Itziar Alberdi, for the great efforts she went to in order to ensure the tournament was a success!

Looking forward to seeing you all back in Madrid in 2011!

Aisling

Complete results below:
Men
Barcelona 1-7
Pamplona 0-3

Valencia 0-8
Madrid B 0-2

Seville 3-8
Pamplona 0-2

Valencia 3-2
Madrid A 1-3

Barcelona 2-3
Seville 1-2

Madrid A 1-5
Madrid B 0-0

Semi-Final
Barcelona 0-4
Madrid A 0-1

Valencia 2-5
Seville 0-7

3rd/4th
Madrid A 0-1
Seville 0-0 (Points Shoot-Out)

5th/6th
Pamplona 2-5
Madrid B 0-5

Final
Barcelona 1-10 Valencia 1-7 (AET)

Ladies
Barcelona 0-5
Valencia 0-2

Madrid 1-5
San Agustín 0-1

Madrid 3-8
Valencia 1-2

San Agustín 4-3
Barcelona 1-3

San Agustín 3-8
Valencia 0-4

Madrid 3-5
Barcelona 0-5

Final
San Agustín 3-4 Madrid 1-7

I came across these points and they made me laugh regarding the argument between “soccer” and “Football” and which was better.  Some cut close to the bone so beware!

1. The GAA player who played in front of 80,000 at the weekend will be teaching your children, selling you meat or fixing your drains on Monday morning. The soccer player who plays in front of 80,000 will be moaning about playing too many games and will be trying to sell you his personalised brand of leisure wear.
2. GAA nicknames are better. Soccer players just add a Y to their surnames.
3. Cork vs Kerry is a real derby. What does Utd. Vs City mean to Vidic or Robinho?
4. How many soccer players does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer eleven. One to stick it in and ten to surround and kiss him after he does it.
5. Soccer players go to the papers after a game. GAA players go to the pub.
6. John Terry would run a mile if he came up against Francie Bellew.
7. GAA teams are numbered 1-15. A soccer team reads like the lottery results.
8. All soccer players wear shin pads. Some hurlers don’t even wear helmets.
9. Television runs soccer. Schoolteachers run the GAA.
10. The GAA is about where you’re from. Soccer is about who you like.
11. No segregation at GAA games.
12. No soccer team has a nickname quite as lovely as the Fighting Cocks of Carlow.
13. Bubble perms never made it to Croke Park.
14. A scoreless draw in the GAA would be quite a novelty.
15. Roman Abramovich can buy the League. You can’t buy the Liam McCarthy or Sam McGuire. There’s no stupid offside rule in GAA.
16. There’s no soccer commentator like Michael O’Murcheartaigh ‘The goalie hits a very very long ball way, way out on the field’ – what a legend.
17. You always know what country your teachers come from the day after a weekend full of GAA action.
18. GAA players run faster, hit harder and last longer. Nobody acts like a grenade just went off if they get tripped.
19. Croke Park.
20. The championship means summer. The FA (or FAI) Cup means winter
21. Soccer players always describe the game they have just played in the same guarded way. There is nothing like a GAA player cutting loose “He ate the shite out of us” said an Offaly player of Eamon Cregans half time speech in the All-Ireland a couple of years ago.
22. Under age players get to be part of the biggest days in hurling and football. No one cares one bit about the junior soccer teams.
23. Rural villages = A Church, A Post-office, a Pub and a GAA pitch.
24. We don’t have eejits running around doing somersaults and cartwheels all over the pitch while ssshing the crowd after putting a ball between two posts

You can catch the Original Conversation on Yahoo UK Forums. (and yes I know the title said 30 reasons but I thought I would leave you with 6 reasons for yourself…add them in the comments below if ya like).

I have been meaning to add this to the site ofr ages now.  A great write up about the days events by Dermot Corrigan in Seville.

Better late than never I guess!

Marbella GAA tournament report – Dermot Corrigan of Eire Og Seville

Gaelic Football is a form of football played mainly in Ireland where, although a strictly amateur pursuit, it is the most popular sport in terms of both playing numbers and attendance levels.

Played correctly, it is a fast, hard game requiring a combination of skills incorporating kicking, catching, running, tackling and hand-passing. Teams of 11 or 15 players attack H-shaped goal posts, with one point awarded for kicking or punching the ball between the posts and over the crossbar and a goal worth three points awarded for getting the ball under the bar and into the net.

Last Saturday saw local team Marbella Costa Gaels hosting the second round of the 2010 Iberian Gaelic Football Championships.

An exciting day’s action featured 14 games played in the picture-postcard setting of Ojen village, culminating in Sant Vincent Valencia securing the men’s title and Madrid Harps emerging victorious in the ladies’ final.

Six teams took part in the men’s competition, including Barcelona Gaels, Naomh Fermin Pamplona and – making their first ever championship appearance – Eire Og Seville. The action began with a plucky Pamplona team featuring a majority of Spanish players edging a tight encounter with Marbella 0-5 to 0-4, before Valencia outclassed an under-strength Seville team by 4-4 to 0-2. Barcelona then beat Pamplona by 0-6 to 1-0, before Seville showed more of their mettle in a tight game against Madrid that finished 1-5 apiece.

Barcelona secured their place in the semi-finals by ending Marbella’s interest in a close fought encounter which finished 1-10 to 3-0 to the Catalans. Valencia then turned on the style to beat Madrid 3-8 to 1-3, a result which nevertheless allowed the Madrilenos to progress to the semis on points difference.

Meanwhile in the ladies, three very evenly-matched teams were battling it out to reach the final. After Barcelona had beaten Madrid by 2-5 to 2-3, Valencia edged out Barcelona by 0-1 to 0-5 and finally Madrid dispatched Valencia by 3-8 to 3-3. After some deliberation the superior points difference of Madrid and Valencia saw them advance. The ladies final featured some excellent scores from both teams, before a late goal saw Madrid take the title on a scoreline of 1-10 to 3-3.

The first men’s semi-final saw a fired up Madrid team overcome a shellshocked Barcelona by 2-10 to 0-2. In the other semi Valencia withheld a spirited Pamplona effort to win by a single point, 0-7 to 0-6. Madrid continued their strong momentum by taking an early lead in the final, before Valencia powered into the game with two goals before half time. The second half saw the Valencianos make their superior teamwork and fitness pay in a comprehensive 5-6 to 0-5 victory.

At the awards ceremony later that evening in the Claddagh Irish Bar in Marbella, referee Tony Bass awarded the Most Valuable Players awards to the richly deserving Adam Whyte of Valencia and outstanding Y of Madrid. A strong feature of the tournament was the excellent contribution from players of all nationalities, with the Spanish contingent playing key roles in both winning teams.

Any Costa del Sol based players (male or female, Irish, Spanish or any other nationality) interested in getting involved are welcome to email info@costagaels.com or contact Gordon on 664 246 054. The Costa Gaels have weekly training sessions with all newcomers welcome. For anyone based in Seville, Eire Og Seville are always looking to recruit new players and can be contacted by emailing secretary.seville.europe@gaa.ie

Photo’s by Owen Farrell – www.doubleexposurephotography.ie

This Saturday the 13th of March (unlucky for some so they say!) is the day when teams from all over Spain including Madrid, Barcelona, Pamplona, Valencia and Seville converge on the Village of Ojen to play the Marbella leg of the Iberian GAA League.

The day will be packed with Football including Mens and Ladies games and with ten teams in total that’s going to make for one very strict schedule as we aim to play the final and play-offs for the 5 o’ clock finish time. The games and time schedule is listed below in so far as the first rounds anyway and the end of the day:

After all the games are sorted, some of you might need to have a wee drink and some grub. (I say some of you…you know I mean all of you!)  The food is being arranged at Matambre, just around the corner from the Claddagh Bar and past Beckitts restaurant where we have quite a tasty of selection of Tapas and Munchies.  In case you get lost, heres the bars and places we recommend when your in town.

An update from the the results for the GAA Valencia tournament held on Saturday 27th of March.

Tournament begins

The Throw-in for the 2010 Men’s Iberian Championship took place today in Valencia. It was at a new venue this year, Puçol, in the heart of the orange fields just north of the city and 4 teams took part; the hosts Sant Vicent, Naomh Fermin from Pamplona/Iruña, Barcelona Gaels and Madrid Harps.

Valencia began well, squeezing past a tough Madrid side, before meeting their match in the next game against Barcelona. Madrid recovered well from that early defeat to beat both Pamplona and Barcelona. So they then qualified for the final along with Barcelona, with Valencia narrowly eliminated on points-difference.

The Matches Continue

Despite losing to Madrid a little earlier in the group game, Barcelona rallied strongly in the final and took an early lead thanks to some clinical free-taking. In what was the best game of the day, Madrid narrowed the lead to less than a score with only a couple of minutes to go, but couldn’t quite get there, and so Barcelona have picked up where they left off last year, winning the first round and going into an early lead in the Championship.

A special mention of our referee for the day, Patrick Stassen from Maastricht who made his tournament debut. He left the game flow whenever possible and the day was all the more enjoyable for that.

The championship now moves onto Marbella in 2 weeks, where today’s four teams will be joined by Costa Gaels (Marbella) and Seville. The Ladies Iberian Championship will also begin there, with Valencia, Barcelona Gaelettes and Madrid competing.

Today’s results in full:-

• Madrid 0-6
  Valencia 1-4
• Barcelona 3-13
  Pamplona 0-2
• Valencia 0-3
  Barcelona 4-9
• Madrid 4-11
  Pamplona 0-1
• Valencia 11-7
  Pamplona 0-1
• Madrid 2-8
  Barcelona 0-3

Valencia Tournament Final:

• Madrid 1-08
  Barcelona 0-14

So we had dinner last Friday night with the Irish Club Marbella and a few of the lads from the team turned up to meet up, enjoy some fine food at Beckitt’s Restaurant and of course, sink a few beers and the evening turned into a fine old night with plenty of messing about and cheer.

But this story is about one person in particular.  Our esteemed Chairman of the Gaelic Athletic Football Club, good ole Gordon himself.

Say Hello to the man himself.

Now, if you don’t know our Gordon he runs a great wee Irish bar in Puerto Banus and an avid GAA man he is, so its nice to see that he didn’t let the side down again on this occasion.

After consuming a substantial, but not inebriating amount of alcohol at dinner, the party was really only getting started as Gordon and a few of the lads went “visiting” a full of the local drinking establishments around Marbella until the wee small hours upon which Gordon decided that he had had enough and took a taxi back to Banus where he decided to check in on his bar and make sure all was well.

Now at this stage, the night had wore on and our Gordon was a little the worse for wear.  But no bother to the man from Tipperary, he had responsibilities and not man nor an act of God would stop him checking out his beloved bar!

Having asked the young lass there if all was well then established that all was in order, the staff where fine and the folks in enjoying a few beers where seen to, Gordon decided to sit down and relax a little.

On a sofa.

A big soft sofa.

The inevitable happened and our Gordon fell asleep. Thats’ not so bad though and you cant blame a man for catching 40 winks in his own bar.

Its when he awoke that the story unfolds.

Having consumed a pretty fine amount of drink and woken up Gordon hauled his fat arse of the sofa and declared “I’m of to me bed lads, goodnight!”

Everyone nodded at this wise decision from the publican… that is until, to their amazement,  they saw him locking the doors to the bar behind him as he left and buggered off down the stairs with a spring in his step and not a care in the world.

I’ve heard of lockins before, and I’m not sure how they do them down in Tipperary, but Gordon, your the man and I think next time you might want to try positioning yerself INSIDE the bar to make it an official lockin and one that folks can at some point leave!

Just had confirmation that the friendly game against Seville will be going ahead on Sunday at 1pm in Ojen.  If your playing, shine yer boots and if yer not playing then put a note in your diary to come to Ojen and watch the game. If the guys can get in touch with either Justin or Gordon and see about arrangements for getting to Ojen in advance and in good time (like 12:30 at the latest) that would be great.

Directions to the Ojen pitch are on this page.