Sunday April 27th 2014. A day when a group of 22 people made a little bit of history in these United States of America by participating in the first every Gaelic football in Winston Salem. Tim Cronin a former member of the Raleigh Cú Chulainn team has begun the formation of a new Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Winston Salem. This would bring the number of clubs in North Carolina to three.
Winston Salem Team:
Tim Cronin, Josh Monk, Gerardo Solano, Jon Eilbes, Chris Bahm, Ryan Nuffer, Erik Freeman, Kit Ayers, Jason Halvorson, Shawn Small & Cormac O’Donovan
Missing: Kirby Moore (away), Jeff Reichard (injured), Lorcan Byrne (injured)
Raleigh Team:
Ciaran Harris, Colin Keenan, Dara O’hAnnaidh, Enda Wiseman, Jack Foley, Mark O’Hagan, Shane McDermott, Steven Tillery, Stephan Byrne, Joe Nett & Justin’s Pini
Missing: Lots of fellas 🙂
Referree: Eddie Foley (Raleigh Team Manager)
The game was played on a lovely sunny (82F/28C) Sunday around 12.30pm. With the goal posts pre-assembled the night before by Josh & Tim and with the help of Erik, Jason, Ryan, Kit & Jon we got them reassembled on the day & attached to the soccer post in time for the game. With the field lined out and the goal posts secured in place it was time for the fun part of the day. The game was refereed by Eddie “The Voice” Foley and at 12.30 Eddie throw up the ball and the game was on. The format of the game was 11 v 11, with two 30 minute halves and a water break after 15 minutes into each half.
There was some great teamwork and scores by both teams with Raleigh getting off to a good scoring start. Winston Salem stayed tight on their heels and Jon Eilbes opening up the scoring for Winston Salem with a great solo run. There were other scores by Dara, Enda, Ciaran & Colin on the Raleigh team and scores by Tim, Cormac, Jon & Gerardo on the Winston Salem team. However Raleigh’s experience proved to be too much for the novice Winston Salem team and Raleigh Cú Chulainn end the game victors on the day.
“I am extremely proud of all the lads who lined out for the Winston Salem team. For the majority of people playing on the team it was there first experience of a Gaelic Football game. Also, most of the lads had at most 3 or 4 training sessions (with a handful having about 7 or 8) EVER under their belt so It was great to be able to see them learn the skills of the game in so little time. Their dedication to training and willingness to learn the game is commendable and I feel that this is a great start for the club here in Winston Salem. We are starting out with a strong foundation.”~ Tim Cronin
A rematch will be arranged for sometime over the summer.
