Ulster Council GAA

The 29th Coca-Cola GAA Feile Peil na nOg finals will take place in County Derry this year from Friday 2nd through to Sunday 4th July. The organising committee are expecting approx 15,000 people to come to Derry city on Friday night to witness the parade of all the players, mentors and club colours and banners that traditionally marks the opening of this prestigious event.

The event will see 160 under 14 football teams take part, including numerous visiting teams, along with their mentors, parents and family members who will visit the county, and stay at one of the 38 football clubs in Derry, or host clubs from neighbouring counties. A record seventeen ladies football teams from Derry will also host and participate in this year’s event, evidence of the Feile fever that has gripped the county.

At the launch of this inaugural Féile Peil na nÓg to be held in the Oak Leaf county, organising Chairman Patsy Mullan told attendees in the Guildhall, how much it means to him and fellow Gaels from Derry. “We are delighted to be hosting Féile Peil na nÓg in our county for the first time, it is a huge celebration of the contribution of our youth and is a festival we hope everyone will join in,” he said. “Everyone is invited to attend and enjoy the parade and sporting events which will take place over the weekend”.

Preparations are continuing at host venues throughout the county, including Derry City where the parade will leave Celtic Park on Friday evening at 7pm and make its way to Guildhall Square, finishing at Magee University grounds. Mullan adds “It is great to see the anticipation sweeping across the city and throughout all the clubs.”

Each year approx 30,000 boys and girls – under 14 years of age – from each of the 32 counties, the UK, Europe and USA participate in Féile. Coca-Cola has supported the Féile Péil na nÓg finals since 1993 and also sponsors the Coca-Cola GAA Féile na nGael competitions, which celebrated it’s 40th anniversary this year in Clare. Erica Roseingrave, Public Affairs and Communications Manager of Coca-Cola said:

“Coca-Cola is proud of its association with the Féile Peil na nÓg finals, and it’s sister competition, the Coca-Cola GAA Féile na nGael finals. In addition to encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle, every year we are treated to matches of great drama played in a fantastic spirit, with unrivalled hospitality provided by the host Clubs and County. The competitions continue to play an important role every year within the community, and following on from the success of the Feile na nGael finals in Clare, we are eagerly looking forward to this weekend’s finals in Derry”.

The Féile Peil na nÓg first started in Cavan in 1982, when 40 teams participated, and has grown immensely to the stage where Derry GAA will play host to 160 teams this year.

ClubDerry and Derry County Board have also thrown their weight behind this historic event. Cathaoirleach Coiste Chontae Dhoire John Keenan echoed the delight his committee possessed in “Hosting Féile this year and the opportunity it gave all the clubs in Derry to participate in this famous festival of fun and friendship”. He stated “The parade and colour of almost 5000 boys and girls through the streets of Derry, coupled with the multitude of games at numerous venues across the county, can only enhance and reward our existing coaching and development strategies currently in place”.

During the build up to the Féile weekend, the county hosted a week of Primary School visits as part of the official launch, with Uachtarán Cumann Luthchleas Gael Criostar O’Cuana and Uachtarán Cumann Peil Gael Na mBan Pat Quill visiting all the primary school children and their teachers.

During his visit Uachtarán O’Cuana said he expected Feile Dhoire 2010 to be a fantastic success following the preparations and anticipation he had witnessed during his trip to the county in May.

“I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet so many of the young Primary School children around the county, to see them all in the GAA colours never fails to fill me with pride. There is so much good work being done here in Derry and I send my appreciation to the teachers, coaches, and all the volunteers who work so hard for our association in the county.

Feile commences on Friday July 2nd when all host clubs will play their first game against their visiting team, before emerging on Derry City for the parade on Friday evening. Saturday again witnesses all teams playing two more fixtures in qualifying group games before semi finals take place on Saturday evening. Sunday is finals day, with finals taking place in Foreglen and Celtic Park.

Boys and girls from St Canice’s Primary School in Dungiven extend a ‘Cead Mile Failte’ to all of the competing counties to the 2010 Football Feile in Derry in July:

A superb evening of entertainment included dancing, singing, the player’s prayer, special guests such as Anthony Tohill and Martin McGuinness, and an inspirational speech by the GAA President to officially launch Feile:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 2:50 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Everyone seems to be on Facebook these days and Ulster GAA is no different. We’ve been building a service for followers since January which has resulted in nearly 5,000 friends of the Ulster GAA Facebook page. It’s part of a combined social media initiative which includes videos on our YouTube channel and Twitter.

Exclusive video footage is gathered, edited, uploaded and shared on these platforms, as well as on the Ulster GAA website. In recent weeks, the reports have highlighted the superb work done by Gaelic4Mothers and Special Needs Gaelic Football, in addition to focussing on Championship games.

The appearance by Armagh minor hurlers in their first Ulster Final in 77 years features this week, while the first interview with Uachtarán Chomairle Uladh Aogán Ó Fearghail on the decision to take the Ulster Football Finals to Clones was made available to Ulster GAA web followers on Sunday evening.

Videos from the 2010 Championships have also featured views from respected former players, managers and referees, including Sean O’Neill, Danny Ball, Sean Boylan, Peter McGrath and Pat McEneaney.

Follow Ulster GAA on:
- Facebook
- YouTube
- Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

St Galls Ladies Football Club would like to extend an open invitation to the clubs of Ulster to take part in our annual 7′s competition.  Help us promote ladies football and increase breast cancer awareness on Saturday 31st July with a day of football, community spirit and good craic all in the name of a great woman who did so much in her short but very courageous life.

Date: Saturday 31st July 2010
Registration: 9.30am – 10am
Throw-In: 11am
Venue: St Galls GAC, Milltown Row, Belfast
Closing date for applications: Friday 16th July.
Entry fee: £50 per team

All applications should be sent to Emma Wilson  (Secretary) – emma_m_wilson@hotmail.com / St Galls GAC, 12 Milltown Row, Falls Road, Belfast, BT12 6EU

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

St Malachy’s Gaelic Athletic Club Castledawson celebrated the official opening of their new pitch at Broagh Road recently in the presence of GAA President Christy Cooney, Derry Chairman John Keenan, County Development Officer Damian McKane, Sport Northern Ireland’s Brian Mc Cargo, and Sean Henry Magherafelt District Council.

St Malachy’s Chairman Sean Cushley said “Today the Castledawson Club has realized a long held dream. The Club now has outstanding facilities available for our local community. The new floodlit pitch will provide the club with more training facilities to assist its playing members. This evening also marks the opening of the car park which had been extended to assist spectators. St Malachy’s is deeply indebted to Croke Park, Sport Northern Ireland, Ulster Council GAA, Magherafelt District Council, St Malachy’s own Development Committee and the local community for their generous financial support which has made today’s developments possible.”

Derry County GAA Chairman, John Keenan, who hails from Castledawson, said “This marks a milestone in the development of the club. I take great pleasure in what I see before me. Everyone should be very proud of what we have achieved. ”

It was then left to GAA President Christy Cooney to declare the pitch officially opened: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be here, I would like to congratulate all those involved in the development of this wonderful pitch and you the Club members. I hope you make maximum use of the fantastic facilities you have here.”

“This pitch is a reminder of the hard work of the generations who have gone before and an investment in the future”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The first coaching session for the Belfast Handball Development squad has taken place the in Physical Education Centre at Queens.

The squad set up on the back of the Belfast Strategy is managed by one of Ulster’s greatest handball players Charly Shanks from Armagh and who is ably assisted by Ulster GAA coach Shane McCann who is responsible for the co-ordination of the squad.

In recognition of this important project Antrim Handball provided the squad with complimentary O’Neills polo-shirts which were presented by chairman Seamus Graham.   The polo-shirts are the first pieces of gear to bear the new Belfast Strategy logo.

PHOTO – Selection of players from the Belfast U16 Handball Development Squad receiving their new poloshirts – (Back row L-R – Charly Shanks,Shane McCann(Ulster GAA Regional Development Officer) – Front row L-R Jordan O’Neill(St Galls), Domhnall Moran(O’Donovan Rossa), Seamus Graham(Chairman Antrim Handball), Lee McCann(St Galls), Daniel McMullan(O’Donovan Rossa)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:28 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Congratulations to the three Ulster U21 players were shortlisted for the 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future Award, namely: Michael Murphy, Donegal , Cavan footballer David Givney, and Donegal forward Leo McLoone.

Michael, David and Leo were three of 14 short listed players who excelled throughout the 2010 Cadbury GAA U21 Football Championship. The 2010 Cadbury Hero of the Future Award was won by Rory O’Carroll, from Dublin.

All nominees can be seen on www.cadburygaau21.com

Past winners, Colm O’Neill and Fintan Goold from Cork, Killian Young from Kerry and Keith Higgins from Mayo have gone on to represent their Counties at Senior level. Cadbury Under 21 Hero of the Future Awards, Croke Park, Dublin.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

As part of the DENI sports in school programme the Down coaches organised a Summer project ‘Game of 3 halves’ FUNdamentals day to promote the ongoing work being done in the primary schools within County Down.

The event ran the week 10-14th May covering Newry, Tullylish, Downpatrick, Belfast, Kilkeel areas, with over 530 children participating in the event.

The event was organised to help promote GAA games within each area, to help maximise participation of Gaelic Games in FUN and enjoyable capacity through games of Gaelic Football, rounders and camogie.

It was a great event, with all participants including teachers thoroughly enjoyed the abundance of skills that these young children displayed through a fun and most enjoyable GAA games.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Camogie gets on board the European Health and Fun Day, with over 100 young Belfast camogs taking  part in a special European health initiative.

A day of competitive games and fun took place on Sunday June 6, as the Whiterock Leisure Centre hosted the Euro Sport Health initiative Do Sport, Do Health. Putting Belfast in a league with Barcelona, Budapest and Cyprus, the initiative brought camogie clubs from across the city together to improve youngsters’ health and give camogie a high profile boost.

Organiser Margaret Flynn, a member of the Belfast GAA Strategy Group, said “Camogie is still a popular sport in Belfast and is currently experiencing a re-birth, spearheaded by the Belfast Strategy Group.

“GAA clubs who don’t have a camogie section are being encouraged to form new teams and we’re also reaching out to children who haven’t experienced the joys of the sport to increase wider participation.

“Belfast City Council sponsored the event and made its facilities available on the day and my thanks go to the Parks and Leisure Department for assisting us in the planning of this event.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Belfast Festival of Gaelic Games is well underway and is already proving to be a very worthwhile and enjoyable experience for young people in Ireland’s second City.

The Festival of Gaelic Games aims to promote Gaelic Games to young people who live in Belfast City while at the same time giving them something positive to do with their time on these sunny Saturday afternoons.

The Festival started on Saturday 19th June and will run until 21st August. The festival means that every Saturday during the summer school holidays the young people of Belfast will be able to compete in Gaelic Games, which will help develop their skills and increase their interest in the games.

The Festival is open to children under 15 years.  Girls and boys are welcome with competitions for both.  Young people from non-GAA backgrounds are also very welcome to come along and enjoy participating in Gaelic Games.

The first blitz of the festival was held at St Teresa’s CLG, Belfast. The day was a great success and O’Neills sportswear attended and gave all players O’Neills baseball caps and football boot bags. They also selected a player of the day who has been invited down to the new O’Neills store to select any GAA jersey of his choice.

Teams involved on the day: Michael Davitt’s, Naomh Og (Eire Og & St Agnes), St Teresa’s, Cardinal O’Donnell’s & Patrick Sarsfields.

Special mention must go to the two young whistlers from the Ardoyne Kickhams club who did a great job.

PLEASE NOTE REVISED DATES FOR BELFAST FESTIVAL OF GAELIC GAMES

For more information contact: shane.mccann.ulster@gaa.ie

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ulster GAA has teamed up with Ulster Cancer Foundation to promote sun safety during the sun-drenched Championship season.

Ulster Cancer Foundation has kindly provided sachets of sun cream at Ulster GAA Championship matches and the sun safety campaign was also brought to Divis Mountain in Belfast during the 2010 Ulster Poc Fada.

The message in these hot, sunny days to: regularly apply sunscreen, wear a hat and drink plenty of water is being heard loud and clear by Gaels across Ulster.

At the GAA Cúl Camps this message will once again be pushed to ensure that children and young people are aware of the dangers of exposure to the sun.

The well established partnership between Ulster GAA and Ulster Cancer Foundation has meant that this campaign has been hugely successful and will hopefully continue throughout the summer and in years to come.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

GAA Director General Paraic Duffy recently took time out of his busy schedule to visit Lamh Dearg Club in Belfast where he met the Belfast Urban GAA Committee which has responsibility for the implementation of the strategy to develop Gaelic Games in Ireland’s second City.

At the meeting Pauric Duffy acknowledged the work undertaken by the Committee to date and reiterated the strategic importance of developing Gaelic Games in urban areas.  This is a priority for the GAA and he noted the support of Central Council for the work being carried out in Belfast.

In addition to addressing facility and infrastructure needs within the City, the coming together of the Committee and the associated initiatives provides a united focus on the development of the GAA in Belfast and provides a new forum through which clubs can communicate, share, learn and contribute.

Pauric Duffy committed to working with the Committee going forward to achieve in full the objectives outlined in the strategy i.e. increase the number of people taking part in the entirety of the GAA programme in Belfast.

Speaking after the event Chairperson of the Belfast Urban GAA Committee Cathy Gallagher said, “We were delighted to welcome Paraic Duffy to Belfast and our discussions reinforced the importance of the work that is being carried out by the Belfast GAA Urban Committee.  This is a new dynamic within Belfast but it provides an invaluable arena to foster a more ‘joined up’ approach to the provision and development of Games in the City.  We look forward to working with Paraic and his team to help bring the full strategy to life.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ulster GAA is urging clubs, who are hoping to apply for any government funding, if any becomes available, to apply for Club Maith Accreditation.

As clubs will be aware, since the Places for Sport Fund closed in 2009, high level negotiations have been ongoing between Ulster GAA and Government Departments.

Although there is no confirmation of capital funding available at this time we will advise clubs as soon as we are in a position to do so.  We would remind all clubs that ‘state of readiness’ will still be a key criteria if and when the funding situation improves.

We are advising clubs to apply for the Club Maith accreditation as this may become a future requirement of any funding.

The Club Maith accreditation is recognised by Sport NI.  Preparations for an application could take up to 4 weeks, and a further 4 weeks should be given after submitting the application for assessment.  Clubs should therefore progress this matter as a matter of urgency.

This advice is specifically important to clubs within the six counties.

Clubs can apply for Club Maith online at www.ulster.gaa.ie/club-maith or by contacting Maura Kelly on 028 37517 180 or emailing maura.kelly.ulster@gaa.ie

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Sunday 18^th July 2010

Ulster Senior Football Championship Final
Muineachán v Tír Eoghain
2.00pm at St Tiernach’s Park, Clones

Ulster Minor Football Championship Final
Tír Eoghain v Ard Mhacha
12.00pm at St Tiernach’s Park, Clones

Be there – Bigí ann!

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Ticketing:

This IS an all-ticket event – All Patrons must have a valid ticket for entry to the venue.
Patrons should note that all tickets will be scanned prior to entry into the ground.

Tickets are available through Clubs and County Boards, and on www.ticketmaster.ie from Monday 5^th July.

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Ticket Prices:

Hill and O Duffy Terrace: €18 / £15

Gerry Arthurs Uncovered Stand – €25 / £21
Gerry Arthurs Uncovered Stand (Senior Citizen) - €18 / £15
Gerry Arthurs Covered Stand – €30 / £25

Family Tickets are available in the Eastern Stand and the Pat McGrane Stand at the following rates:
Uncovered Stand Adult – €25 / £21
Uncovered Stand Juvenille – €5 / £4
* Note that family tickets are available from Clubs and County Boards only.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship Final:
Antrim 4-22  Down 1-12

Antrim made it nine Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Championships in a row as they sauntered past Down to triumph by 4-22 to 1-12 in the provincial final at Casement Park on Sunday.

Leading by 18 points at half-time, the home side were always in control of this game, the only they had to play in their home province this year due to also competing in Leinster.

This was the perfect way for the Saffrons to warm up for next week’s qualifier fixture against Carlow at the same venue, and there was absolutely no sign of complacency from Dinny Cahill’s side.

At half-time, Antrim led by 2-15 to 0-3, Liam Watson and Karl McKeegan getting the goals and augmenting their own personal tallies with four and three points respectively, Antrim having had 1-7 registered before Down made their first impression on the scoreboard.

With McKeegan getting his second goal after the break and PJ O’Connell also finding the net, there was no sign of Antrim letting up, though Down did manage to restrict them to seven points after the break.

Unfortunately for the Mourne Men, though, they did not come near to finding the scores necessary to overhaul their opponents, though Paul Keith did put some level of respectability on the scoreboard with a goal for them.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9:05 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ulster Minor Hurling Championship Final:
Antrim 2-19  Armagh 0-10

Antrim eventually got the better of Armagh to seal a fifteen point win in Sunday’s Ulster Minor Hurling Championship final at Casement Park.  The boys from the Orchard county had beaten Antrim in the Ulster league earlier in the season and they gave a very good account of themselves for long periods of this game but in the end they were undone by the scoring power of Antrim corner-forward Ciaran Clarke who hit 2 goals and 10 points in a man of the match display.

Antrim started well and were 0-4 to 0-0 ahead after fifteen minutes with Clarke scoring all four. However once they found their feet Armagh began to grow in confidence and with centre-forward Conor Corvan in excellent form they hit back to level the game by the twenty-first minute with three points from Corvan and one from James King.

The final ten minutes of the opening half was the best period of the game as King and Corvan sent over points for Armagh, but two apiece from Antrim corner-forwards Ciaran Clarke and Dan McCloskey helped Antrim to a 0-10 to 0-7 half-time lead.

Armagh continued their good work after the break and in the opening ten minutes of the second-half they drew level with three more points from Corvan who was causing the Antrim defence no end of problems. It looked a little worrying for Antrim at this stage but they slowly but surely began to get on top again and points from McCloskey, Clarke, McGuinness and Jennings settled the nerves again.

Incredibly Armagh would not score again as Antrim made use of the strong breeze to pick off the scores. With James Black and Paddy McNaughton gaining a grip at midfield for Antrim the Armagh challenge faded and Antrim scored 2-9 without reply in the final twenty minutes, both the goals coming from fiercely struck shots from Clarke.

In the end a comfortable win for the young Saffrons but Kevin McNaughton and his management team will know that a performance like this will be nowhere near good enough for the challenges that lie ahead.

Antrim – James O’Mullan, Ciaran Orchin, Matthew Donnelly (capt), Oran Quinn, Conal Morgan, Daniel McPeake, Andy McGowan, James Black, Paddy McNaughton, Nial Peoples, Chris McGuinness, Eoin McAlonan, Daniel McCloskey, Shane Jennings, Ciaran Clarke.

Armagh – Simon Doherty, Cormac Rushe, Fintan Corvan, Liam Woods, Neil Duffy, Conor McKee, Tom Marley, James King, Paddy Heaney (capt), Mark Toal, Conor Corvan, Austin Mackle, Eoin Robb, Shean Gaffney, Conor McNally.

Referee – Jim O’Rourke (Monaghan)

Report: antrim.gaa.ie

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9:03 am and is filed under Homepage News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.