Spanish Championship GAA Valencia February 2010
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