As Winter creeps another step closer to everyone in Canada, we take a look back at September and what all our clubs got up to while they still had some daylight!
In the Western Division, with the Alberta Finals wrapped up both Calgary & Edmonton looked towards their inhouse league finals. On September 16th Calgary Chieftains gathered on their field to crown the 2023 IATA Rec League winners. While up North, in Edmonton the Wolfe Tones took to the field to find their best internal 7s team. Both clubs had incredibly successful inhouse leagues, well done to everyone involved in both clubs on another wonderful year of leagues! The Calgary Chieftains also made one final Tournament trip, this time to Butte, Montana to take part in the Wolfe Tones Draft Tournament in Butte that saw 44 hurlers, 10 of whom were from Calgary, participate in the third Annual Tournament. As a Draft Tournament, players were drafted to teams on Friday evening and played competitive games on Saturday. Calgary represented Canada very well in Butte coming away with 2 MVPs awards, well done to everyone involved!
Over in the Toronto Division, it was time for the Toronto Hurling & Camogie Championship Finals on Saturday 9th. First up was the Senior Camogie Final between Le Cheile & Na Piarsaigh, two sides that are very familiar with each other, a fantastic game of Camogie was played before Le Cheile ran out winners. Next up was the Senior Hurling game between Clan Na Gael and Cuala Sarsfield’s, this one was a cracker of a game before Cuala Sarsfield’s pulled away and came out on top! Toronto GAA were delighted to welcome Ulster GAA Referee Kevin Parke from Antrim to officiate the games and take in the sights of Toronto for a few days!
It was then the turn of our youngest GAA stars the Toronto Chieftains, as they took off to Detroit for a Hurling & Football Blitz against teams from Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit. A great day was had for all the travelling parties, with the some excellent GAA on display from all teams but in particular the Chieftains with some superb scores and match winning goals!
In the Eastern Division, Les Patriotes de Quebec hosted the 2023 Eastern Invitational Championships on Saturday September 2nd as teams from the East and West gathered to battle out for the bragging rights. Ottawa, Halifax, Eire Og, Montreal, Peterborough, Kingston and Quebec were joined by the Calgary Chieftains for the first time in the Eastern Championships. Games were played all day Saturday as teams fought to see who the best in the East were. The Champs at the end were Ottawa in the LGFA Shield Final, Quebec in the LGFA Cup Final, Montreal in Camogie, Eire Og in Hurling, Montreal in the GAA Football Shield Final and Montreal in the GAA Football Cup Final. A spectacular day of GAA in Quebec that also saw LGFA Referee Anthony Marron from Monaghan make the trip over to officiate games.
At club level, Montreal Shamrocks wrapped up their 2023 Super League that saw all 4 teams take to the field in all 4 codes for the top prize. Ottawa Gaels also hosted their Annual Mike Robinson Tournament with Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, Toronto Gaels, Durham and Ottawa coming together for a very successful day of GAA.
Teams in the Vancouver Division enjoyed their first month off as they looked back on a very successful 2023 season of GAA at Burnaby Lakes.
As the GAA year draws to a close, we are another step closer to our 2023 Convention in Calgary on December 2nd & 3rd, with plans ongoing by the host club, Calgary Chieftains, there is massive anticipation building for an excellent weekend!
