May 30th saw this year’s annual Gaelic Football tournament here in Raleigh, North Carolina. We welcomed teams from Atlanta, Charlotte, Winston Salem and Arlington as they competed for the Andrew Britton Cup and James & Catherine O’Sullivan Memorial Cup against the home Raleigh team. Raleigh and Charlotte also competed for the Schoolkids Records Cup in the first ever ladies football tournament here in Raleigh.
Charlotte won all three trophies but the true success of the event was in the participation of so many people in what was for many, their first ever game of Gaelic football. The feedback we received from the other clubs was a testament to the work done by so many people – Eddie and Ann for organizing the mens and ladies teams and schedules for the event, Colin for looking after the B team, John for lining the fields on Friday night till late, Steve for his innovative crossbar implementation, Sarah for the creation of the programs, Eric and Stacey for the fantastic signs pre game, Dara for the photos, Finbar for the refereeing, Our sponsors for getting behind us, Pete for the food, George for manning the tent, the kids for selling $60 of lemonade, Joe for putting up the crossbars and anyone else that volunteered for the most menial of tasks! Finally, thanks to all players who togged out and gave it your all. Without you, there would be no club. Lets keep it going for the rest of the year!
It also helped that Raleigh beat both Winston Salem in the B tournament and Atlanta in the A tournament for us to finish the day on a positive note on the field too!
