Although adverse conditions prevented a planned Jersey visit for Guernsey Gaels’ seven-a-side tournament, the hosts still enjoyed a fulfilling day competing against some new faces from Ireland – the home of Gaelic football – at Rovers’ headquarters.
Luck of the Irish had it that Eastern Gaels’ men and women both dominated in the series of shortened 30min. matches at a windswept and occasionally rainy Port Soif.
This included the men from Meath scoring three goals and 12 points to the Guernsey A team’s 1-5, which was one of the more competitive matches of the day.
But Guernsey Gaels chairman Richard Harrington still felt his players and the sport’s community reaped plenty of benefits from the tournament.
‘It’s just a fantastic way to build the confidence of our players and connect them with the wider world of Gaelic football,’ he said.
‘Hopefully they’ll go back and tell people about Guernsey. They’ve already invited us to a return fixture in Meath, and now we’re going to bring the profile right up and attract more players.’
This fourth edition of the annual tournament formed a big celebration of the sport and its roots, with one Irish national flag flying high and others representing various counties flanking the pitch.
A similar display last year had by coincidence caught the eye of an Eastern Gaels coach, Johnny Cairns, and led to him planting the seeds for their visit.
‘This time last year I was cycling round the island – I was here working – and I saw the flags and thought I’d go down and have a wee look at that,’ he said.
‘Lo and behold, an Irish tournament going on. We’ve built up a relationship with the guys since and brought our team here.’
The Irish club have only existed for three years and are growing rapidly, with around 40 each of men and women, plus 120 in the academy.
Their Guernsey counterparts celebrate their 30th anniversary next year, yet they are currently in a rebuild and some way from repeating their senior Pan-European Championship victories of 2011 and 2013.
The strength of the Irish team gave the islanders much to aspire to.
‘We’re very happy with our performance, but great competitiveness from Guernsey, both on the men’s and the ladies,’ Cairns said.
‘Great support and a great edge to the whole tournament.
‘Hopefully we can return the cordial invite to Guernsey next year.
‘We would be very lucky to have them and host them.’
Although Guernsey are enjoying the game competitively, including the men last year narrowly missing out on a Shield win at the French GAA Finals, this tournament proved a notable opportunity for new players with varied sporting backgrounds to enjoy themselves in front of a home crowd.
This is in keeping with Harrington’s description of Gaelic football as a ‘friendly summer sport’.
‘That is the ethos of the Gaelic Athletic Association.
‘At this level, people are playing the game, making connections and having fun really at the heart of it, particularly as demonstrated by us mixing the teams at the end of the day.
‘It’s just the love of the game really.’
As for the touring Irish, they thankfully had arrived early enough in advance to see Guernsey in a nicer light.
‘We got in on Thursday and we’ve had a fantastic time,’ Cairns added.
‘We’ve enjoyed all the highlights of the island, we went on a few tours and we did a bit of training yesterday and went to the beach at Cobo.
‘We’ve been to town … and the tournament itself today. We still got the sunny weather yesterday, so the team are sunburned.
‘Quite the windy conditions today, but it’s still been fantastic.’
Next year, Harrington and fellow organisers will be looking to stage a ‘bigger and better’ event, including invited teams from France.
He has thanked the Social Investment Fund for assisting with transportation costs for this eve
