What a month June was for the GAA community right across Canada!
Starting off in the Western Division, we saw the Calgary Chieftains & Edmonton Wolfe Tones take to the field in Edmonton for the first round of the outdoor Alberta Cup! First up was the Men’s Football game that saw a strong Edmonton team make it look easy against a Calgary team that was missing a lot of key players. The final score; Edmonton 4-07 to Calgary’s 0-2, a major change from the score lines seen indoor in Red Deer in the Winter months. Next up was the small ball with Calgary coming out victorious by 1 goal in what was one of the best Hurling games seen in Alberta for a few years! The main event kicked off when Edmonton Og took to the field for a skills session followed by a competitive game that saw great talent on display! Huge well done to everyone in Calgary and Edmonton for having competitive GAA games even with the huge distance between clubs!
Over in Toronto, the crowds gathered at Centennial Park on Saturday June 18th to watch three Toronto League Finals; Senior Hurling, Senior Ladies Football and Senior Men’s Football. First up was the highly anticipated Hurling Final between Cuala Sarsfield’s and Na Piarsaigh and this one did not disappoint, both teams popped over some incredible scores and it was nail biting stuff until Cuala Sarsfield’s started to pull away and finished on top with a score line of 2-17 to Na Piarsaigh’s 1-09. Next up was the Senior Ladies Football Final between St Pat’s & St Mike’s, another matchup that on paper would be a tight one! At half time there was only 1 point in it with St Mike’s on top, the second half saw St Pat’s come out firing on all cylinder’s and started to pop points over in very quick succession. St Mike’s made a strong comeback and rattled the St Pat’s net twice, when the final whistle blew the final score was St Pat’s 0-13 to St Mike’s 2-05. The last match of the day saw Toronto Gaels & St Vincent’s face off in the Senior Men’s Football Final, a game that had all the spectators talking and anticipating a tightly contested game. This one did not disappoint, both teams started very strong going point for point. At half time St Vincent’s had 2-02 to Toronto Gaels 0-4, before eventually finishing St Vincent’s 2-09 to Toronto Gaels 2-07. The Gaels had made a valiant comeback but the clock was against them as they could not quite get the scores to send this one into overtime. The games wrapped up and the crowds filed out of Centennial Park marveling about the quality of games they had witnessed all day!
In the Vancouver Division, Championship kicked off at the beginning of the month with the new Cu Chulainn Camogie team adding a bit more bite to the Championship. With a few weeks of games played, Eire Og & St Finnian’s are both sitting in first place in the Senior & Intermediate Men’s Football tables with Eire Og in first place in the Junior Men’s Football. In Ladies Football, ISSC are top of the Senior table, Eire Og & ISSC holding the number one spot in the Intermediate table & Eire Og sitting on top in the Junior Groups. Over on the small ball side, new club Vancouver Wolfe Tones are tied for first with JP Ryan’s in the Senior Hurling, a great feat for a club that only formed 7 months ago. In the Intermediate group made up of Cu Chulainn & JP Ryan’s both teams are tied, in the Junior group JP Ryan’s are enjoying the number one spot. Lastly, in the Camogie group Cu Chulainn are enjoying the top of the table spot, although they have played only one game so there is no doubt ISSC will make them work to keep the coveted spot. Well done to everyone in Vancouver making the Championship so competitive, the volume of games & teams lining out each week is a testament to the hard work being done to build the GAA in Vancouver.
In the Eastern Division, the Montreal Summer Super League continued with some incredibly competitive games each week, with a special mention to Griffintown Gaels & Goose Village Blackrock’s whose recent game finished with a score line of 7-17 to 7-07 in favor of the Gaels! The other clubs in the Eastern Division continued with their outdoor training now that summer has finally come to Canada, with many of these clubs sending players to Derry for the World Games in 3 weeks. The World Game teams have been finalized, the flights have been booked and players are working tirelessly each week to make sure they are in prime position to bring the Gold back to Canada! Check out our social media channels to see each of our 7 Team Canada Player Profiles, get to know the winners before they travel to Derry!
