Barcelona Ladies European Round Report

On the 11th June, Barcelona Gaelettes hosted the second round of the European Ladies Gaelic Football championship and the Iberian regional championship finals. Belgium GAA, Munich Colmcilles, Madrid Harps, Valencia Saint Vincent, Naomh Fermin and the hosting club, Barcelona Gaelettes played on a blitz basis, from 10am to 6pm.

Special mention to the Naomh Fermin team, which was a mixed team formed by players from Pamplona, Holland Ladies, Toulouse and Tallinn. The Barcelona round was the first experience ever in a tournament for 2 of the 3 Estonian players. The Estonian Ladies team, exclusively formed by local players, was set up 2 years ago and this year will be the first competition where they compete as a team. There were also players from the Seville Ladies team and A Coruña.

 

Belgium GAA

 

Munich Colmciles

Naomh Fermin

Madrid Harps

Valencia Saint Vincent

Barcelona Gaelettes

Teams were divided in two groups. After the group stages, Belgium GAA played the semi-final to Naomh Fermin; the other semi-final was played by Munich Colmcilles and the hosting club Barcelona Gaelettes.

The tournament ended with a great final played by Belgium GAA, the current European champions and Munich Colmcilles. Both teams played a great final, but once more, the Ladies from Belgium GAA showed their potential and certified they are the strongest ladies team of the moment in mainland Europe, as they started the season winning the first round in Luxembourg.

The Player of the Tournament went to Belgium’s midfielder, Sinead Fitzsimons, who played excellently in all games. Belgium leads the European Ladies Championship with two rounds. Round three takes place in Munich on July 9th.

As for the Iberian regional championship, Madrid Harps retained the title they won in 2010 and were proclaimed champions of 2011. No matter the final result of the Barcelona round, the Madrid ladies were already de facto champions before the last round, as they were the winners of the 4 previous rounds (Seville, Madrid, Pamplona and Valencia), showing a great standard of football. Barcelona Gaelettes came second, thanks to a good performance in their home tournament and Valencia Saint Vincent, third.

Two items of good news came from the Iberian region this season. The first one, the new ladies team from Seville. Seville Éire Óg is the first ladies team of the Iberian region from Andalucia competing in the Iberian ladies regional championship. The second one, comes from Madrid, as the ladies team have been the first region to field two teams (Madrid Harps and Madrid O’Donnells) in two of the Iberian rounds, showing the enthusiasm and commitment of the players.

Madrid Harps ladies team, champions of the Iberian Ladies Regional championship 2011.

As in 2008, 2009 and 2010 in addition to our regular ladies’ Championships (the European and the Iberian football competitions), ladies coming from several European teams will represent in two teams, the European County Board (ECB) in the All-Ireland Junior 7 a-side tournament. It will be the fourth time that ladies from the European teams will the chance to travel to Ireland to take part in this tournament. There are training sessions organized in the forthcoming months. European players train together on the Sundays after the European tournaments in order to prepare for the tournament. Besides, this year we hope to organize some friendly games. There will be also a training session in Dublin on the Friday before the tournament.

A huge thank you to the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) for their continuous support. At the Barcelona tournament, we were delighted to welcome Dan O’Mahony and Sean Mc Mullin, vice-presidents of the LGFA; their presence and encouragement to the players all day long was highly appreciated.

Sean Mc Mullin and Dan O’Mahony with a players representation from some of the participating teams.

Mònica Duran

European ladies officer 2011

ladiesfootballofficer.europe@gaa.ie