Thanks to all who participated in the 3-a-side ground gaelic football tournament on Saturday afternoon. The fundraiser, for the Under 21 Hurlers and Footballers, was an enormous success with over ninety players participating and representing 30 countries worldwide.

A special thanks to Thomas Heffernan for organising all the fixtures, to Damien Byrne for spending the whole day making charcoal out of burgers and to Simon Cullen for his excellent refereeing on Pitch 3 for the entire day.

The main tournament was eventually won by USA, captained by Darren McBrien, after they defeated Argentina in the final. Argentina were dealt a hammer blow seconds before the final when they lost their keeper Ronan Murdock ( due to domestic issues ). Player of the tournament was awarded to Damien Hayes, captain of Colombia after some outstanding individual performances earlier in the day. Hayser, as he is known, informed the tournament organisers that Colombia should have won, and indeed would have, if only his team mates would have passed him the ball.

The senior’s tournament, for middle-aged men, was eventually won by Belgium, captained by Tommy Halton, after they beat Spain in the final. Belgium had an unlikely victory in the semi final against highly fancied New Zealand, captained by Johnny Twomey, to earn a place in the final. Spanish captain Peadar McAdam had a gilt edged chance to force a draw and penalites in the dying seconds of the final but blasted wide from three yards out thus handing the trophy to the Belgians.

Its excellent to see adult players such as Eoin Sheanon and Ronan Murdock organising and fundraising for underage teams. Lets hope we see more of this esprit de corps from all sections of the club.