05 October 2005 Holloway Gaels win Amsterdam 9-a-side Tournament Share this Article 0 0 0 Shares! 0 Shares! Holloway Gaels win Amsterdam 9-a-side Gaelic football tournament Holloway Gaels ladies recently won the Amsterdam 9-a-side gaelic football tournament. The Holloway Gaels ladies were the only London team to be invited to participate in the gaelic football tournament hosted by Amsterdam GFC. The opening match saw the Holloway girls come face to face with last year’s winners, Paris. Holloway came away with a two point victory in what was a tough and physical game. The second game of the day set the London girls against the Holland B team which was made up of players from clubs in the Hague, Amsterdam and Maastricht. Holloway romped home to a 6-12 to 0-1 victory in a one-sided affair. The morning’s victories guaranteed Holloway a place in the final against competition favourites, Holland A. the Dutch team had home advantage and had the benefit of a much larger panel of players than Holloway. The final was a nail biting affair. Holland started off the stronger of the two sides and raced to a four point lead after 5 minutes. Holloway came back with an Emma McGinnity goal just before the halftime break. The second half was a very even affair with both teams matching each other point for point. Great defensive work from Sadie McCarthy and Jenny Smyth minimised the Dutch scoring threat. Holloway were dealt a cruel blow when they were reduced to 8 players when Claire Nugent was sin binned for an alleged foul on the Dutch full forward. A Holloway point in the last minute of normal time, levelled the teams and sent the match into extra time. Very little separated the two teams in extra time and Holloway led by the narrowest of margins at half time. An Emma McGinnity goal and some superbly taken points from Yvonne Tevlin saw Holloway pull away from the Dutch team in the dying minutes. Holloway eventually ran out as winners by 4 points. All credit to the Holloway girls for a very gritty performance and their well deserved victory. Caroline Shanahan had a great game in goals and the distance gained in her kick outs made the difference in extra time. The defence of McCarthy, Nugent and Smyth were rock solid while Yvonne Tevlin and Anne-Marie Dargan dominated proceedings in the middle of the field. Up front, Emma McGinnity played a captain’s role and was the day’s top scorer and received great support from Maggie Keown, Liz Wroe and Cliona Kennedy. The Celebrations carried on well into the wee hours of the morning! Holloway Gaels would like to thank Amsterdam GFC for the invite to the tournament and the hospitality shown to the team over the weekend. Anyone interested in playing ladies Gaelic football in London with Holloway Gaels should contact Anne-Marie Dargan on +44 7886 485967. Share this Article 0 0