GAA All Britain Competition Supplement

All-Britain Competitions 20-22 July, Greenford

8 PAGE SPECIAL | APRIL 28, 2012 | www.irishpost.co.uk

2 | April 28, 2012

The Irish Post

Young Gaels are going for Greenford gold Y

OUNG athletes will descend on London this July, primed to test their skills against the cream of what’s out there, determined to be at their personal best and get amongst the medals.

But forget about that minor distraction in Stratford, all roads lead to the north-west of the capital this summer.

Hundreds of young GAA players from across the UK will descend on Greenford this summer for the first ever All-Britain Competitions.

The games will take place over the weekend of July 20-22, with approximately 100 teams set to participate.

Football, hurling, girls football and camogie teams aged from U-8 to U-18 will be catered for, while up to six teams from mainland Europe will also make the trip.

The British Council of the GAA plan to host the ABCs annually.

Between players, management, family, friends and supporters, the games are expected to attract in the region of 3,000 people to Greenford over the three days.

In this eight-page pull-out, our writer John Collins checks in with the community development administrators (CDAs) all over Britain to see how plans for this monumental event are coming together – and also to

ask about the health of the Association in London, Hertfordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Scotland.

John has gone the extra mile-and-a-half for this project and we’re sure you’ll agree that the end product is a fascinating read.

The ABCs are the brainchild of Brendie Brien, chairman of the British Council of the GAA, and former president John Gormley, who is chairman of the ABC committee.

The idea is based on the Continental Youth Championships in the USA, a tournament that has expanded significantly since its establishment in 2004, with over 100 teams competing in Boston last year.

“We’ve been taking a team to compete in America for the last seven or eight years and it was costing a lot of money just to bring one team out,” Brien explains.

“We felt that we needed value for money in Britain and that setting up our own competition was the way forward.”

Seven-a-side games will be played at U-8 level, nine-a-side for the U-10s, 11-aside for U-12s, while U-14s, U-16s and U18s will contest 13-a-side games. It’s hoped that reducing the numbers required to field a full team will allow clubs of all sizes to participate.

London senior footballer Mark

Gottsche, who is the GAA’s Community Development Administrator for London, has been appointed secretary of the ABC committee.

“There will be a massive amount of work involved but things like this have been successful in other places so there’s no reason we can’t do the same here,” says Gottche. “The ABCs will allow kids to test their skills against other kids from all over Britain.

“It’ll also give clubs a good indication of where they stand. It’s a fantastic opportunity as well to show the important social role the GAA plays in Britain.”

When asked what the primary objective of the ABC committee is for this summer’s event, chairman John Gormley said: “I think it would be to give the young players the chance to go on and continue their development.

“We want to keep giving them that opportunity because the intention is for this to be an annual thing. We’ve almost doubled our number of underage clubs over the last four or five years so this is something we feel we should be doing.”

Gormley added: “We want to make this a cultural weekend with Irish music and Irish dancing so it should be very enjoyable for everyone attending.

“It’s only a week before the Olympics as well so there should be great excitement and we feel it’s something to really look forward to.”

Up to 1,000 boys and girls will take part in the ABCs at Greenford this summer.

McCarthy hopes to harness power of Scotland

BY JOHN COLLINS THERE’S an intensity about Ronan McCarthy that I recognise well. He possesses the kind of attitude that young players with ambition can easily buy into.

He’s the sort of guy that leaves a positive impression on eager minds.

My own experience of such an attitude dates back to when I myself was a minor playing for London under the inspiring leadership of Johnny Frain.

For two years I had the pleasure of playing for Johnny and by the time those two years were over, I can honestly say that if he’d handed me a hammer and asked me to go through a wall for him, I would have told him to forget the hammer, as I would try and do it with my bare hands.

Such interactions at a young age are important in sport. We all need our heroes and role models, people we yearn to please and aspire to be like.

To me, Scotland community development administrator Ronan McCarthy comes across as a person who inspires.

His background screams motivation, inspiration and leadership and before moving across to work in games development in Britain, firstly with his role in London and then in his new role in Scotland, Ronan’s life was all about helping people improve, be it as a personal trainer, or a coach

within the Portaferry hurling club structure, or as a member of the coaching teams working with Down’s development squads.

Each discipline required the ability to engage with people and then, in turn, get them to commit fully to what you were trying to achieve with them.

Having first arrived in London in 2009, McCarthy worked diligently for two years improving structures, both within the schools programme and also with the county teams.

His tasks with the County Board included accompanying the London team to New York for the Intercontinental Tournament and also in bringing the London minors to Ireland for an intensive training weekend of games and coaching sessions.

However, after two years, the Down native felt it was time to move on as he explained to me last week.

“I believed that when I left London I had the set-up in exactly the place it needed to be.

“They had good relationships with the schools and there was a high standard of coaching going on in the schools and the clubs.

“I think for London at the time they just needed to maintain what they had.”

So with London in a good place, McCarthy turned his attention north of the border and the role of CDA in Scotland offered a whole new set of

Scotland community development administrator Ronan McCarthy, and, right, former GAA president Christy Cooney with U14 captain Connor McGuire. challenges, especially given that it is a joint role involving the normal duties of a CDA and also a role within the University structure in Britain, a slight change in direction but one that he was all too happy to make.

“Previously there had been two CDAs in Scotland and they decided to make it one role and I thought it would be a good challenge for me.”

Away from the wellestablished university stuff, the grassroots football in Scotland is in its infancy, but is showing signs of growth.

“In comparison to London, Scotland is definitely at that foundation level and it is just going to need to have a lot of work put into it,” explained Ronan.

“The clubs need to learn all about the club-school link and

how important it is in helping to maintain a club in a place like Scotland.

“The clubs here need to first of all set up their foundations at under-8 and under-10 level and build from that.”

And while Ronan is aware of what needs to be done in Scotland, he is also quick to recognise that there have been some massive strides made in Scotland before his arrival.

“There’s already been great work done here already, it’s just a matter now of picking it up from there.

“There is one club in Glasgow, Tir Chonaill Harps, who will be working with under-10s, under12s and under-14s and then Coatbridge Davitts have a lot of coaching going on and on a training night for them, they would have about 50 kids.

“Then in Edinburgh we have Dunedin Connollys, who are going very well under Niall Considine, and they definitely have a good plan in place.

“But they are very much at the foundation level because they are just working with under-8 and under-10 teams.”

The diversity of age groups and experience among the clubs presents a problem for Ronan and the rest of the people involved with promoting youth football in Scotland.

There is no easy solution, although concepts like the upcoming ABCs will provide a readymade answer to some of the challenges facing them.

A lot of the background work being done to get the kids to these clubs in the first place is as ever being carried out in the schools and this is where Ronan’s experience in London will be valuable to the Gaels of Scotland, as he explained.

“The clubs are buying into the school thing well. You need to experiment a bit with schools to see where the main schools are that you are going to get players from and most of the clubs know exactly where their players will come from, although it takes a few months and a few half-term camps to see where they’re going to come from.

“In my opinion, you are better to give 100 per cent of your attention to three or four schools that are really interested than 20 per cent of your attention to 10

schools who are only a little bit interested.”

But once the kids are out of the clubs, the attention will always turn to coaching and getting quality coaching for the kids is a challenge that Ronan is meeting with great success by using the most naturally occurring resource there is at any training session – the parents of the kids involved.

“If you can get the parents on board, then you’ve already got your coaches.

“Regardless of their background, after watching two or three sessions they pick up what needs to be done very quickly.

“Then I run foundation levelone courses for people who want to learn about coaching.

“And as well as the parents of the kids, I’m doing a lot in secondary schools for kids who are doing Sports Studies and PE for A-level.

“I go into the school and do a foundation course in Gaelic football and then the schools will send them out to their feeder schools to provide coaching.”

The experience Ronan gained during his time in London is going to prove invaluable both to himself and also the Gaels of Scotland over the coming years.

The co-ordination of the development of Gaelic games in Scotland is in very capable hands: hands that will inspire, motivate and ultimately deliver results.

The Irish Post

April 28, 2012 | 3

Healthy rivalry raises the bar in Warwickshire All Britain Competition

TOUR: U12 squad at Croke Park.

BY NEIL WEBB WARWICKSHIRE are primed to travel to the ABCs with a large and highly-competitive group of teams.

There is a strong Juvenile GAA set up in the county, with 10 clubs fielding sides. These are: James Connollys, Erin Go Bragh, John Mitchels, Naomh Padraig, Roger Casements, Sean McDermotts, St Barnabas, St Brendans, St Marys and Setanta.

Games between these sides help to raise the skill level, which is reflected in the 2011 honours list for clubs and county.

While there is rivalry between the teams, there is an excellent relationship between the clubs which is evident through the County Youth Development Committee that works hard at improving all aspects of school, club and county juvenile GAA. This is a highly progressive county and the clubs often travel to places outside of Warwickshire to take part in tournaments and forge links with other clubs (some of these links have now been forged for years).

Indeed, Roger Casements have just returned from Buncrana, Co Donegal, where over 60 players and club members had a weekend of fun, training sessions, blitzs and craic with Buncrana CLG.

2011 CLUB HONOURS U16 All-Britain champions: Sean McDermotts

TĂ­r Chonaill Park, July 20-22

U14 All-Britain champions: Naomh Padraig U14 All-Britain Division two champions: St Brendans U13 British Feile Peil Plate runners up: Roger Casements U12 All Britain seven-a-side Division three winners: Roger Casements

2011 COUNTY HONOURS U18 British Feile runners up U16 British Feile winners U14 British Feile winners U14 Irish Feile Division five quarter-finalists U12 Arklow Geraldines Shield winners U11 Arklow Geraldines Shield winners

I Fun family weekend I GAA games I Skills development I Clubs showcasing their work and skills A must attend event for clubs

Irish Post THE

For more information contact: Mark Gottsche on 078 7260 0074 or mark.gottsche.cda.london@gaa.ie STEP UP: Warwickshire’s U11 Arklow Geraldine Shield winners.

4 | April 28, 2012

The Irish Post

The Irish Post

April 28, 2012 | 5

Gottsche making capital gains

HOOPS AND GLORY: St Clarets, U14 Shield winners in 2011.

BY JOHN COLLINS

London’s CDA is aiming for 100 per cent of county’s 53 minor teams to compete

BY JOHN COLLINS DURING one of my many Antipodean adventures, I had an evening job in a bar in Auckland.

It was the sort of thing that helped supplement the meagre living I was making as an atrociously bad painter and decorator.

During my first week working there, I was asked what shifts I would be able to do during the week and I replied that I could do as many as was needed.

“You can’t do more than three a week,” came the reply from the bar manager.

Curious, I asked the manager whether it was because of some employment law or other that existed in the always quirky bureaucracy of New Zealand. He told me it wasn’t, but they didn’t want their staff to suffer “burn-out”.

For me it was my first encounter with the term and although it’s common speak these days among just about every sports person and the occasional city trader, I had never heard it as a reason for stopping someone from pulling pints of Guinness.

It was as though Rafa Benitez had moved Down Under and had taken to the hospitality industry.

For me I could see no logic to this rule, but I liked the bar, so I carried on working there the nights I could and worked in another bar the other nights.

In my view, the rule was created for people who were working solely for the buck at the end of the night, joyless slaves to their economic situations, but for me, while the money was of course a factor (I really was a truly awful painter and decorator), I also got a great buzz from the work, it was fun to be in the middle of what was going on.

Burn-out to me wasn’t an issue.

And that experience came to mind when talking to London community development administrator Mark Gottsche last week, as at this moment the personable Galway man is pretty much up to his armpits in Gaelic football but, at the same time, he’s loving it.

When not earning his crust in the nine-to-five world (and then some) of helping to develop Gaelic games in London, Mark then has the not inconsiderable commitment that is demanded by Paul Coggins and the rest of the London senior football team management, as the side pursue their first Connacht Championship win in 35 years, to add to their historic Championship win last year against Fermanagh.

Then of course, when there’s a bit of time to spare in between all this, his club Tir Chonaill Gaels are always pleased to see him as well.

As a potential victim of burn-out, you’d think that Mark would be on some sort of GAA watch-list. However, that’s not the case, not by a long way, as he explained.

“I’m in a lucky position that I work in a sport that I grew up with and have a lot of time for. I don’t have to get up in the morning and put on a suit and

join the rat race so to speak. It’s a great job and it’s very easy to come in and do the job when you have a passion for it.”

A graduate of NUI Galway and Jordanstown, Mark is in his current position since October 2011, and while there was a great deal to get to grips with when he first started, he feels he was fortunate to have some exceptional support around him to help him get up to speed.

“I was lucky that one of the previous CDAs was here for two months when I took over and he showed me the ropes.

The transition period was good. Ronan McCarthy, who’s now the CDA in Scotland, was here before me and Brendan Cleary was here to help when I came in.”

However, no sooner had he got his feet under the table, than the call came from the Provincial Council to request help in organising the ABC Championships in July, a monumental task, but one that Mark feels is under control, thanks in the main to the excellence of the people he is working for.

“It’s not been as daunting as it would seem. It’s great that we’ve got people like Brendie Brien, John Gormley and Tadgh Meehan and they’re the real driving forces behind it. I’m just here to help them wherever I can.

“They’re so passionate about making the weekend a total success.”

And part of the process for arranging the games is about monitoring the feedback from clubs, both in London and further-a-field, and so far the noises coming back are easy on the ear.

“The clubs all think it is a very positive thing and the feedback I’m getting suggests it will be a great event.

“A lot of the clubs are of course very keen to try and get their travel plans sorted out, but until we have final numbers, it’s hard to give them definite timetables,” he explained.

And while it’s good for Mark to see the enthusiasm for the event from clubs all over the country, it’s the London clubs that are his main focus, and as is the case in other parts of the country, there seems to be a lot of buyin for the event from across London.

“We won’t know for sure how many

GREEN GIANT: Mark Gottsche in action for London.

clubs will be participating from London until the end of the month or so. There are 53 teams affiliated to the Minor Board, so we’d be aiming to try and have all 53 of those teams at the event.”

And of course one of the main focuses for development in London especially is hurling and this is an area where small but important steps are being made, steps that will be on display in July at the ABC Championships.

“With hurling, we have three clubs with youth teams, with another one trying to get set up. The clubs in general are fielding teams at under-12, under-14 and under-16 levels, with two of them also having minor teams.

“In comparison to football, the numbers are quite small, but there’s a lot of good work going on at the clubs.”

And while the ABC games are going to be taking up a lot of Mark’s time over the coming months, he can’t afford to allow his eyes to stray too far from his day job either, which is of course looking after the development of Gaelic games in London. It’s around this time of year that the heat really gets turned up in the kitchen, with the schools programme being on the front burner at present.

“We’ve got some excellent involvement with the schools throughout London and they run a six week programme of Gaelic football in the schools after Easter, where we send in coaches to run sessions and get the kids interested.

“After that, we encourage the clubs to go down and meet the students and try and get them involved in the clubs.

Each school is also affiliated to a club.”

While the work is time consuming and demanding, Mark is pleased with the capable assistants he has, and that takes a lot of the pressure off him.

“There are four coaches involved in the scheme during this period, so they’re kept busy. The clubs are finding it a very useful resource, as once they get one or two kids from a school, they’ll always encourage their friends along too. So there’s a lot of benefits in it for everyone.”

And no sooner have the schools started their programmes than the clubs kick into action too, with competition time just around the corner for many age groups in the capital.

“The competitions in London are starting in the next couple of weeks and the fixture plan is just getting finalised at the minute, so the whole thing is really coming to life now.”

I’m not quite sure what my bar manager in Auckland would make of the workload that Mark Gottsche is taking on in London, but judging from my experience with him, he’d probably bench him for a few weeks at least, just to avoid any risk of burn-out.

In Marks eyes though, that’s not an issue. There’s so much going on, so much involvement, so much enjoyment and so much potential gain, there’s no thoughts of any time-outs at the moment.

And he’s right too. If you’re enjoying what you do as much as he obviously is, then why stop?

Martyrs to the cause

Next generation of Saints are getting ready to shine

BY JOHN COLLINS THERE’S a murmur going around Hayes these days, it’s an old familiar sound, a hum that anyone who was around the place in the 1970s and 1980s will recognise all too well.

It’s audible at the moment but not deafening, but it’s the sort of buzz that you just know is going to get louder as time goes on.

The whisper in the wind is that St Clarets are back on track with their youth programme, a programme that down through the years has served this club so well.

Each landmark in the Hayes team’s history, dating right back to the club’s formation in the mid-1970s, has been marked by the presence of a sizeable contingent of London-born players, players developed through the club’s youth ranks and then

slowly nurtured on to the senior team.

It’s the way they’ve always done it in Hayes, and it’s the way they hope to continue doing it for years to come.

In 1982 and again in 1989 the club competed in Intermediate Championship Finals, losing the first one and winning the second, and on each occasion, over half of the starting team were London-born.

In 1999, when they again won the Intermediate Championship, they had six home grown lads and in 2002, when they played in their first ever Senior Final, they had five on the starting 15.

This is a club who have a proud history of investing in young players and who then give them the opportunity to flourish.

And how some of them have flourished.

Denis McCarthy, son of one of the founding members of the club, won an All Ireland Junior Football Championship with London in 1986, while Steven Sherry and

three of the Lynott brothers have all played senior football for London.

And it’s with the Lynotts that the next generation of footballers is starting to be developed.

Colm, a former London minor, under-21 and senior player, who had the honour of travelling to New York back in 1987 with the first London minor team to cross the Atlantic, is now the man providing the opportunities for others.

Having guided a quite brilliant under-14 team to Championship Shield glory last year, as well as success in the League and Conrad Ryan Cup, Colm, along with his fellow coach Mick Buckley, are now hoping to push on with that group of players for further success this year.

And as his focus becomes concentrated on that team, so he is joined by others willing to take responsibility for the other age groups and once again, a familiar

name is to the fore, with Denis McCarthy, that same Denis who went on to All Ireland glory, looking after the under-8s and under-10s, along with another former London senior footballer Martin Hession.

Meanwhile, the under-12s are in the capable hands of Steve McElroy.

For this club, the upcoming ABC Championships promises to be an occasion of great excitement.

“

It’s a great concept and the guys who came up with the idea deserve an awful lot of credit.

They’ll certainly be looking for some glory in certain age groups, but as always, the focus will be on development and enjoyment, regardless of what the final outcomes might be.

Colm himself, whose own son, also Colm, is part of the club’s under-14 side, is very much looking forward to the games and told The Irish Post: “It’s a great concept and the guys who came up with the idea deserve an awful lot of credit.

“It’s a massive undertaking and I can’t image how much work must be involved in organising something like this.

“Hopefully most clubs in Britain will do all they can to get behind and support.

“Certainly that’s what we’ll be doing at St Clarets. We’ll be trying to bring as many teams, and more importantly, as many players, to the event as possible.

“It’s the first one and it’s great to be part of it.”

And club chairman John Kelly echoes the sentiments of Colm and is also quick to acknowledge the phenomenal work that has been carried out over the past few years within the youth section of the club.

“For us at present, the youth section is the most vibrant part of the club.We’re doing alright within the adult section, but there really is a buzz about things around the kids, especially after last year’s success.

“As a club we’ll be trying to support these ABC Championships as much as possible. I’m sure it will provide some great memories for the young players.”

When it comes to great memories for youth players in London, there are few clubs as good as St Clarets at providing them, and the way things sit at the moment, it’s hard to see any reason why that should change any time soon.

THE summer of 2012 promises to be a pretty demanding one for many of the young players from the Parnells and St Clarets clubs in London.

Not only will they be gearing up to do their best for their clubs in the London county competitions and also the ABC tournament, but they then have the challenge of making a trip across the water to test their skills against Irish opposition.

Having lifted the London interschools title last year, the Gaelic footballers of Douay Martyrs Secondary School in Hillingdon are now setting their sights on some Irish opposition for 2012.

In July, the school’s young footballers, accompanied by their coaches Mr Tadgh Lee and Mr Kieran McInerney, will be travelling to County Wicklow to take on three local club sides in what promises to be an exhausting five-day trip across the Irish Sea. However, despite the demands that the trip will make on players and managers alike, team coach Mr Lee, who plays for Tir Chonaill Gaels and who is a product of that club’s own youth system, sees only the benefits in the excursion.

“From the school’s point of view, we’re obviously delighted that the parents and the children are so keen for us to make this trip.

“On top of that, it gives us the opportunity to show people in Ireland how involved in, dedicated to and skilful at Gaelic games that these young people are.”

The Douay Martyrs team is a quite a close-knit group of players, with the overwhelming majority of them representing just two clubs in London – St Clarets and Parnells, so in many ways they are a well-drilled unit.

However, the opportunity to play for their school always adds a little extra prestige to any sporting achievement, a point that hasn’t been lost on Mr Lee. “Obviously the pupils themselves take great pride in being able to represent their school at sport, especially when there is an international flavour to the games that they are playing. And certainly the school are proud of what they have achieved in the name of Douay Martyrs so far,” he said.

The trip to Wicklow could prove to be invaluable to these players when they come to play in the ABC games later in July, as you’d imagine it will be extraordinarily beneficial to them as they prepare to take on the best in their age group in Britain.

Tadgh Lee, coach of Douay Martyrs.

4 | April 28, 2012

The Irish Post

The Irish Post

April 28, 2012 | 5

Gottsche making capital gains

HOOPS AND GLORY: St Clarets, U14 Shield winners in 2011.

BY JOHN COLLINS

London’s CDA is aiming for 100 per cent of county’s 53 minor teams to compete

BY JOHN COLLINS DURING one of my many Antipodean adventures, I had an evening job in a bar in Auckland.

It was the sort of thing that helped supplement the meagre living I was making as an atrociously bad painter and decorator.

During my first week working there, I was asked what shifts I would be able to do during the week and I replied that I could do as many as was needed.

“You can’t do more than three a week,” came the reply from the bar manager.

Curious, I asked the manager whether it was because of some employment law or other that existed in the always quirky bureaucracy of New Zealand. He told me it wasn’t, but they didn’t want their staff to suffer “burn-out”.

For me it was my first encounter with the term and although it’s common speak these days among just about every sports person and the occasional city trader, I had never heard it as a reason for stopping someone from pulling pints of Guinness.

It was as though Rafa Benitez had moved Down Under and had taken to the hospitality industry.

For me I could see no logic to this rule, but I liked the bar, so I carried on working there the nights I could and worked in another bar the other nights.

In my view, the rule was created for people who were working solely for the buck at the end of the night, joyless slaves to their economic situations, but for me, while the money was of course a factor (I really was a truly awful painter and decorator), I also got a great buzz from the work, it was fun to be in the middle of what was going on.

Burn-out to me wasn’t an issue.

And that experience came to mind when talking to London community development administrator Mark Gottsche last week, as at this moment the personable Galway man is pretty much up to his armpits in Gaelic football but, at the same time, he’s loving it.

When not earning his crust in the nine-to-five world (and then some) of helping to develop Gaelic games in London, Mark then has the not inconsiderable commitment that is demanded by Paul Coggins and the rest of the London senior football team management, as the side pursue their first Connacht Championship win in 35 years, to add to their historic Championship win last year against Fermanagh.

Then of course, when there’s a bit of time to spare in between all this, his club Tir Chonaill Gaels are always pleased to see him as well.

As a potential victim of burn-out, you’d think that Mark would be on some sort of GAA watch-list. However, that’s not the case, not by a long way, as he explained.

“I’m in a lucky position that I work in a sport that I grew up with and have a lot of time for. I don’t have to get up in the morning and put on a suit and

join the rat race so to speak. It’s a great job and it’s very easy to come in and do the job when you have a passion for it.”

A graduate of NUI Galway and Jordanstown, Mark is in his current position since October 2011, and while there was a great deal to get to grips with when he first started, he feels he was fortunate to have some exceptional support around him to help him get up to speed.

“I was lucky that one of the previous CDAs was here for two months when I took over and he showed me the ropes.

The transition period was good. Ronan McCarthy, who’s now the CDA in Scotland, was here before me and Brendan Cleary was here to help when I came in.”

However, no sooner had he got his feet under the table, than the call came from the Provincial Council to request help in organising the ABC Championships in July, a monumental task, but one that Mark feels is under control, thanks in the main to the excellence of the people he is working for.

“It’s not been as daunting as it would seem. It’s great that we’ve got people like Brendie Brien, John Gormley and Tadgh Meehan and they’re the real driving forces behind it. I’m just here to help them wherever I can.

“They’re so passionate about making the weekend a total success.”

And part of the process for arranging the games is about monitoring the feedback from clubs, both in London and further-a-field, and so far the noises coming back are easy on the ear.

“The clubs all think it is a very positive thing and the feedback I’m getting suggests it will be a great event.

“A lot of the clubs are of course very keen to try and get their travel plans sorted out, but until we have final numbers, it’s hard to give them definite timetables,” he explained.

And while it’s good for Mark to see the enthusiasm for the event from clubs all over the country, it’s the London clubs that are his main focus, and as is the case in other parts of the country, there seems to be a lot of buyin for the event from across London.

“We won’t know for sure how many

GREEN GIANT: Mark Gottsche in action for London.

clubs will be participating from London until the end of the month or so. There are 53 teams affiliated to the Minor Board, so we’d be aiming to try and have all 53 of those teams at the event.”

And of course one of the main focuses for development in London especially is hurling and this is an area where small but important steps are being made, steps that will be on display in July at the ABC Championships.

“With hurling, we have three clubs with youth teams, with another one trying to get set up. The clubs in general are fielding teams at under-12, under-14 and under-16 levels, with two of them also having minor teams.

“In comparison to football, the numbers are quite small, but there’s a lot of good work going on at the clubs.”

And while the ABC games are going to be taking up a lot of Mark’s time over the coming months, he can’t afford to allow his eyes to stray too far from his day job either, which is of course looking after the development of Gaelic games in London. It’s around this time of year that the heat really gets turned up in the kitchen, with the schools programme being on the front burner at present.

“We’ve got some excellent involvement with the schools throughout London and they run a six week programme of Gaelic football in the schools after Easter, where we send in coaches to run sessions and get the kids interested.

“After that, we encourage the clubs to go down and meet the students and try and get them involved in the clubs.

Each school is also affiliated to a club.”

While the work is time consuming and demanding, Mark is pleased with the capable assistants he has, and that takes a lot of the pressure off him.

“There are four coaches involved in the scheme during this period, so they’re kept busy. The clubs are finding it a very useful resource, as once they get one or two kids from a school, they’ll always encourage their friends along too. So there’s a lot of benefits in it for everyone.”

And no sooner have the schools started their programmes than the clubs kick into action too, with competition time just around the corner for many age groups in the capital.

“The competitions in London are starting in the next couple of weeks and the fixture plan is just getting finalised at the minute, so the whole thing is really coming to life now.”

I’m not quite sure what my bar manager in Auckland would make of the workload that Mark Gottsche is taking on in London, but judging from my experience with him, he’d probably bench him for a few weeks at least, just to avoid any risk of burn-out.

In Marks eyes though, that’s not an issue. There’s so much going on, so much involvement, so much enjoyment and so much potential gain, there’s no thoughts of any time-outs at the moment.

And he’s right too. If you’re enjoying what you do as much as he obviously is, then why stop?

Martyrs to the cause

Next generation of Saints are getting ready to shine

BY JOHN COLLINS THERE’S a murmur going around Hayes these days, it’s an old familiar sound, a hum that anyone who was around the place in the 1970s and 1980s will recognise all too well.

It’s audible at the moment but not deafening, but it’s the sort of buzz that you just know is going to get louder as time goes on.

The whisper in the wind is that St Clarets are back on track with their youth programme, a programme that down through the years has served this club so well.

Each landmark in the Hayes team’s history, dating right back to the club’s formation in the mid-1970s, has been marked by the presence of a sizeable contingent of London-born players, players developed through the club’s youth ranks and then

slowly nurtured on to the senior team.

It’s the way they’ve always done it in Hayes, and it’s the way they hope to continue doing it for years to come.

In 1982 and again in 1989 the club competed in Intermediate Championship Finals, losing the first one and winning the second, and on each occasion, over half of the starting team were London-born.

In 1999, when they again won the Intermediate Championship, they had six home grown lads and in 2002, when they played in their first ever Senior Final, they had five on the starting 15.

This is a club who have a proud history of investing in young players and who then give them the opportunity to flourish.

And how some of them have flourished.

Denis McCarthy, son of one of the founding members of the club, won an All Ireland Junior Football Championship with London in 1986, while Steven Sherry and

three of the Lynott brothers have all played senior football for London.

And it’s with the Lynotts that the next generation of footballers is starting to be developed.

Colm, a former London minor, under-21 and senior player, who had the honour of travelling to New York back in 1987 with the first London minor team to cross the Atlantic, is now the man providing the opportunities for others.

Having guided a quite brilliant under-14 team to Championship Shield glory last year, as well as success in the League and Conrad Ryan Cup, Colm, along with his fellow coach Mick Buckley, are now hoping to push on with that group of players for further success this year.

And as his focus becomes concentrated on that team, so he is joined by others willing to take responsibility for the other age groups and once again, a familiar

name is to the fore, with Denis McCarthy, that same Denis who went on to All Ireland glory, looking after the under-8s and under-10s, along with another former London senior footballer Martin Hession.

Meanwhile, the under-12s are in the capable hands of Steve McElroy.

For this club, the upcoming ABC Championships promises to be an occasion of great excitement.

“

It’s a great concept and the guys who came up with the idea deserve an awful lot of credit.

They’ll certainly be looking for some glory in certain age groups, but as always, the focus will be on development and enjoyment, regardless of what the final outcomes might be.

Colm himself, whose own son, also Colm, is part of the club’s under-14 side, is very much looking forward to the games and told The Irish Post: “It’s a great concept and the guys who came up with the idea deserve an awful lot of credit.

“It’s a massive undertaking and I can’t image how much work must be involved in organising something like this.

“Hopefully most clubs in Britain will do all they can to get behind and support.

“Certainly that’s what we’ll be doing at St Clarets. We’ll be trying to bring as many teams, and more importantly, as many players, to the event as possible.

“It’s the first one and it’s great to be part of it.”

And club chairman John Kelly echoes the sentiments of Colm and is also quick to acknowledge the phenomenal work that has been carried out over the past few years within the youth section of the club.

“For us at present, the youth section is the most vibrant part of the club.We’re doing alright within the adult section, but there really is a buzz about things around the kids, especially after last year’s success.

“As a club we’ll be trying to support these ABC Championships as much as possible. I’m sure it will provide some great memories for the young players.”

When it comes to great memories for youth players in London, there are few clubs as good as St Clarets at providing them, and the way things sit at the moment, it’s hard to see any reason why that should change any time soon.

THE summer of 2012 promises to be a pretty demanding one for many of the young players from the Parnells and St Clarets clubs in London.

Not only will they be gearing up to do their best for their clubs in the London county competitions and also the ABC tournament, but they then have the challenge of making a trip across the water to test their skills against Irish opposition.

Having lifted the London interschools title last year, the Gaelic footballers of Douay Martyrs Secondary School in Hillingdon are now setting their sights on some Irish opposition for 2012.

In July, the school’s young footballers, accompanied by their coaches Mr Tadgh Lee and Mr Kieran McInerney, will be travelling to County Wicklow to take on three local club sides in what promises to be an exhausting five-day trip across the Irish Sea. However, despite the demands that the trip will make on players and managers alike, team coach Mr Lee, who plays for Tir Chonaill Gaels and who is a product of that club’s own youth system, sees only the benefits in the excursion.

“From the school’s point of view, we’re obviously delighted that the parents and the children are so keen for us to make this trip.

“On top of that, it gives us the opportunity to show people in Ireland how involved in, dedicated to and skilful at Gaelic games that these young people are.”

The Douay Martyrs team is a quite a close-knit group of players, with the overwhelming majority of them representing just two clubs in London – St Clarets and Parnells, so in many ways they are a well-drilled unit.

However, the opportunity to play for their school always adds a little extra prestige to any sporting achievement, a point that hasn’t been lost on Mr Lee. “Obviously the pupils themselves take great pride in being able to represent their school at sport, especially when there is an international flavour to the games that they are playing. And certainly the school are proud of what they have achieved in the name of Douay Martyrs so far,” he said.

The trip to Wicklow could prove to be invaluable to these players when they come to play in the ABC games later in July, as you’d imagine it will be extraordinarily beneficial to them as they prepare to take on the best in their age group in Britain.

Tadgh Lee, coach of Douay Martyrs.

6 | April 28, 2012

The Irish Post

The west’s awake

BY JOHN COLLINS

By John Collins THEY’RE not known in the north-west of England for letting the grass grow under their feet.

There’s a real industry about the people there, a real “roll up your sleeves and get on with it” approach to life.

Travel around this area of England and you’ll see landmarks galore telling tales of a glorious past; a hardworking, creative, inventive, forward-thinking, ambitious, innovative past.

The epic tale of the Industrial Revolution, probably the greatest story ever told in Britain, is centred around these places.

And as in life, so in sport, and any cursory glance at the annals of sport in Britain will tell you that these parts are also at the heart of many of the nation’s greatest sporting achievements, especially in football, where the names Liverpool and Manchester pretty much encapsulate the past 50-odd years of soccer in England, whether it be the blue or red halves of either of those two cities.

Whichever way, they all have a tale to tell.

And that industry and that ambition has transmitted itself into the spirit, mentality and ethics of the people who come from here and also the people who choose to live here.

Here they’re not that keen on standing around looking for help. And why would they, especially when they’re so good at sorting out problems for themselves?

And that attitude to life is proving to be the life-blood of the GAA in Lancashire, particularly at youth level where the efforts of Fermanagh-born community development administrator Niall Jackman are helping to push the games on at youth level at an even and realistic pace.

Talking to Niall helps to create the impression that things are in good hands and that progress is being made.

“

We’ve six clubs in the north-west at youth level, all operating at various age groups. The majority operate at under-10 and under-12 level, some at under-14 and under-16 and we have a few under-8 teams as well.

The decisions that are being made by those in a position to do so, appear to be made both with the benefit of experience and also with the essential cooling agents of common sense and realism.

However, that’s not to say things are being conducted at a snail’s-pace, in fact far from it as Niall, who graduated from Hope University in Liverpool with a degree in Sports Science and Psychology, explained to The Irish Post.

“I’ve been working as the Lancashire CDA since February 2011. We’re working hard to try to establish and then maintain youth teams in Lancashire over a period of time, rather than have teams dropping out after one or two years and then having to re-form again. I suppose we’re looking to establish consistency.

“We’ve six clubs in the north-west at youth level, all operating at various age groups.

“The majority operate at under-10 and under-12 level, some at under-14 and under-16 and we have a few under-8 teams as well.

“It is going well. Despite losing St Anne’s last year, we’ve an extra club now with John Mitchell’s from Liverpool and they’re operating very well.

“We’ve started to touch base with schools in Liverpool to try and get players out from

The Lancashire U17 development squad had success at the CYC in Boston last August.

Spirit of industry alive in Lancashire there to help John Mitchells.”

But it’s not all about creating new teams for these people and they are keen to make sure that clubs from the recent past get a fresh start as well, fitting for an area of such historic significance in the history of the country.

“We’re hoping to get St Anne’s [who folded last year] up and running again for next year.

“Obviously, the more teams we have the better the competition and the better the structure we’ll have.”

And to make this happen, it’s felt that games are an essential part of the recipe and to that end, youth football in Lancashire has already been up and running for several weeks, testimony to the enthusiasm and appetite there is for the sport and the culture in these parts.

“We’ve had a couple of challenge blitzes for under-10s and under-12s and I think that nearly every club took part, and we’ve also had a couple of inter-county development squad blitzes, so the majority of teams are a good four or five weeks into their year already.”

However, as is the case in most counties, there are challenges in trying to ensure that the games continue to develop at an even and sensible pace.

One of the biggest obstacles that they have to overcome is getting coaches committed to the teams for what is generally a very timeconsuming year.

“The big problem we are finding, and it’s a universal thing, is that getting players isn’t the issue, as we’re in the school and we’re coaching away in there,” Niall told us.

“The kids are keen to come out to the clubs but it’s making sure you have coaches is the big issue for us.

“The reason why clubs have folded has been because they haven’t had anyone to run them, rather than not having enough players,” he explained.

“We’re looking at parents to be involved but as we have a good set up with senior and junior teams in Lancashire at the minute, we are also trying to persuade some of the players to get involved too, as a lot of them will have coaching experience. We’re trying to get them to give something back to the clubs.”

And it is in this area that the creativity of the Lancashire mindset starts to shine through and in the case of Niall’s own club, John Mitchell’s, they have come up with a novel idea for ensuring that every youth team has enough coaches.

“What’s working out very well for John Mitchell’s at the minute is that they have devised a rota system for coaches who want to give their time, but can’t do it every week.

“With the rota, they only end up coaching once or twice a month. One of the parents coordinates the rota and lets people know when they’re coaching.

“It obviously won’t work for every club but its working for John Mitchell’s. But for the bigger clubs, with plenty of players, it’s certainly worth looking at,” Niall told us, adding that he felt there was a big win in it for the kids as well.

“For the kids themselves it’s great because they get a variety of coaches and they get exposed to different ideas and different techniques.”

And obviously with so much good work and effort being put into developing the games in Lancashire, the players and mentors will be keen to see how they shape up against opponents from other parts of Britain at the ABC Championships in the summer.

It’s a concept that has got many of the Gaels in the north-west more than a little interested and there’s no doubt that come the time for the competition to begin they will be ready for the challenge, although Niall does point out that it will be another few weeks before they have a clear picture of what teams will be travelling to London for the weekend.

“It’s early days in the season, we’re only into our second or third committee meeting and we have another one in a couple of weeks. That’s when we’ll have more information and we’ll try and get as many teams down as possible.

“We have been putting a push on for the last couple of months at the youth committee meetings and we are giving the clubs regular up-dates.

“The clubs are now getting back into the swing of things, so the onus is on the club mentors to get in touch with parents to let them know the dates and times so that they can organise their plans.”

What’s for sure though, regardless of how many Lancashire teams eventually travel down to the games, those that do will approach the competition in a typical northwestern fashion; with a willingness to work hard, a creative edge, an inventive spirit, a well-managed ambition and a determination to innovate.

After all, it’s the Lancashire way.

MENTION Merthyr Tydfil to most sports fans and the image that will spring to mind most readily is one of some muddy 18stone lock coming charging towards you with an oval ball tucked under his arms.

Likewise, mention moving to Merthyr Tydfil to live and work and most would immediately think of collieries and blackened faces coming to the surface at the end of yet another arduous and dangerous shift “down pit”.

And of course, as is the case with most stereotypes, there is an element of truth in such characterisations, despite the gnawing feeling that those particular caricatures would be better placed in an episode of Little Britain.

For no matter how you might imagine life to be in certain parts of the world, there are always surprises to be found and it is in these alternative circumstances that we find Fermanagh man Phil O’Connor.

Occupations and activities in Merthyr Tydfil don’t come much less obvious than being the GAA community development administrator for Gloucestershire, Wales and the south-west of Britain, but that’s the path chosen by O’Connor, who has been holding the role for the past number of years.

In a role that keeps him darting around the south-west of England and Wales, accumulating what he himself describes as “serious miles”, Phil’s services are in high demand and his time has to be divided between places as widespread as Plymouth, Cardiff and his beloved “Valleys”, as he goes about the business of trying to increase the footprint of the GAA in the area.

While attempting to go headto-head with the likes of rugby and soccer in places such as Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil may appear an impossible task, the approach that Phil and his fellow Gaels have taken is to try and tap into the abundant appetite that exists for sport in schools and to try and grow the sport from

“

There is a great interest here in the idea of the ABC games. there, a system that is working well thus far, as he explained to the Irish Post.

“What we have started to do here in Gloucester is create a system of what we call satellite clubs, in other words, in certain valleys, for example in Merthyr Tydfil, the kids go away to a blitz to represent Merthyr Tydfil in Gaelic football, but they fall under the umbrella of St Colmcille’s in Cardiff.

“That way they don’t actually have to form a club of their own.

So they get to represent their

own area under the name St Colmcille’s.

“We started the idea last year because we couldn’t put the manpower on the ground to run these individual clubs because of the infancy of the project.

“It’s worked well and we’re hoping to develop the idea further.”

And once the appetite for the game has been whetted among the kids, the next step is to ensure that the clubs take maximum advantage of this early work and Phil has come up with a clever way of helping to promote the games, while also making sure that they have maximum numbers at training each time they have a session.

“We’re doing a lot of work in the schools and the clubs are getting involved in this area too.

In some regions we’re running after-schools clubs which then double as club training sessions too.

“That way the parents don’t have to make extra journeys to take kids out again in the evenings. It’s working very well for us.”

And with the games starting to develop strong roots in the area, the next test for the players of the south west of England and Wales will be to pit their skills against players from other parts of the country and the upcoming ABC Championships in July will be the perfect opportunity for them to do so.

It’s a concept that has certainly captured the imagination of many of those involved in the sport and it’s one that Phil feels the Gloucestershire County Board will have good representation at.

“We’re definitely planning on bringing teams up to London.

“But it’s a bit early in the year to know for sure how many teams we will be bringing, because generally in the county, most of the serious stuff starts after Easter, but there is a great interest here in the idea of the games.”

The tournament will also provide Phil with the perfect chance to compare notes with the other Games Development Officers working within the other counties in Britain and he suspects that the role’s that the officers in the bigger counties are carrying out will be very different from the roles of the people working in the smaller set-ups like himself.

“In the smaller counties like ourselves, the CDAs probably have more contact with the players and are more hands-on than the bigger counties.

“In the smaller counties, we’re running all the sessions and there’s a lot of miles to cover.

We’ve clubs in places like Cardiff and Plymouth and then throughout the Valleys, we’re tied into schools as well. So it’s pretty demanding in terms of logistics.”

Regardless though, Phil is pushing on with his mission to bring quality youth Gaelic games to the Gloucestershire County Board area and certainly it will be interesting to see how their work this far compares to that of the other counties across Britain.

The Irish Post

April 28, 2012 | 7

Yorkshire youth is going from strength to strength

BY JOHN COLLINS THE secret to success is often to take your strengths, extract the maximum value you can from them and then build on the base structure you have created.

It’s a sensible and pragmatic way of going about a task: strong foundations create strong buildings.

And that’s very much the approach that Yorkshire community development administrator Andrew Kitterick has adopted over the past number of years as he looks to build the profile of Gaelic games in his home county.

An educator, facilitator and volunteer, he has used these three pillars to construct what he hopes will be a sturdy GAA infrastructure in Leeds, Huddersfield and points even further north as he told the Irish Post.

“I volunteer coached in my club Bros Pearse of Huddersfield for a few years and then progressed from there and started coaching under-16 and under-18 teams,” he said.

And these coaching ambitions have been backed up with some serious knowledge and understanding of what is required from a modern-day trainer.

A combination of his previous working experience and his love of Gaelic games have provided the perfect mix for a job as a CDA in Britain.

“I have a degree in sports science from Huddersfield University and I am a qualified teacher with a background in special education. As well as that, I have done some mentoring work and also some courses in strength and conditioning.

“When this job came up I just fancied a break from teaching, so I applied.

“It’s the sort of job you’ve got to have a big passion for to be involved in.”

Andrew’s many years involved with the sport in Yorkshire helped provide him with the sort of sense of realism that is so important when taking on a development job in what is a largely unknown sport in a place like Yorkshire, although he does hope there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Gaelic games.

“We don’t have UK Sport recognition at the minute. It’s going be a big thing when it comes and that’s hopefully happening in the next 12 months.

“It will basically allow us to tap into funding that comes from the United Kingdom. Obviously at present our funding is provided by Croke Park and through DION. “We’re working with the Ulster Council who we are partnered with and they have been through the process a few years ago, so they’ll be able to help us, and if we can get that it will be a huge step.”

Despite being a minority sport, the foot print of the games in Yorkshire is growing and these days the responsibilities stretch way beyond the county boundaries.

“My area is pretty spread out. In Yorkshire, it’s all based around the west of

HURLING UP A STORM: Cuchullains young hurlers with club secretary Ciaran McPeake and, below, Yorkshire community development administrator Andrew Kitterick.

Yorkshire, but we also have a team from Newcastle, Cuchullains, who play in the Yorkshire League.

“They’ve only be going as a club for four years, we’re trying to develop our links with the schools there and hopefully helping them create an under age club. There’s quite a bit of interest up there.”

Despite the size of the area he has to cover, it is only in the last few months that Andrew has had the luxury of having a part-time assistant to help share the workload, although it’s not something that he feels has overly hindered the development of the games in the area.

“I’m very much into getting volunteer coaches” he said. “I set up a coach education programme at a place called Notre Dame College in Leeds.

That was set up fairly quickly after I started in the job.

“There is a teacher in there with links to the GAA in Yorkshire, and every year we have an enhancement programme that enables sixth form students to get trained up with a GAA coaching qualification and when they have that, they go

out and coach for us in local primary schools as volunteers.

“I’ve replicated that in Huddersfield and hopefully we’re going to do it in Newcastle as well.

“I’m a big believer that if you start paying and then the money does dry up, then it is even harder to get people to become involved.

“It’s great because we get the backing of schools with ideas like this and the students at 17 and 18 realise that maybe they need to have something different on their CV, maybe a bit of volunteering, so I’ve taken advantage of that.

“I’ve got about 12 volunteer coaches and one paid part-time coach, so we’re hitting good-numbers.”

Getting coaches on board is one thing, but securing the long term involvement of players is an altogether different challenge, especially in an area as culturally diverse as Yorkshire.

“We’ve probably got the same problems as a lot of the other counties around Britain. Some of the clubs just don’t have underage systems.

“Four of the seven clubs here in Yorkshire have had underage structures in the past.

“There’s been a big drop-off in the number of second and third generation Irish children there are now and

communities are different than they were 20 years ago.

“The struggle now is to get the transfer of kids from the coaching that is going on in schools through to getting them to join clubs, but it’s something that we’re working on and I’ve had an increase in registrations every year since I’ve been in the job.

“

We want to showcase the good stuff that is going on in the county and the ABCs are a great opportunity for kids to go out and show everyone what we’re doing here.

“We’re a little up and down in terms of clubs. We’re focusing very much on development rather than club and competition. It’s a slow process and I’ve said from the start that it’s going to be a long process. There is potential there but it’s not something that is going to happen in three or four years.

“We have a school link programme with the clubs. I had experience of it

before I started this role as I’d created links between two schools in Huddersfield and my club. But you have to make sure that there’s real interest from the school.”

And once the kids are on board with the clubs opportunities like the ABC Championship will provide them with a great opportunity to both represent their area and also pit their skills against kids of a similar age from other parts of the country, a notion that is exciting both Andrew and his fellow Gaels of Yorkshire.

“The clubs are really up for it but it’s going to take a lot of planning. We have to have a statement of intent in by the end of April regarding how many teams we’re going to send, so we’ll have to wait until then to really understand what’s going to happen.”

And while some of the counties might find the logistics of taking part in such a tournament quite daunting, in a typical Yorkshire pragmatic stance, Andrew brushes aside such concerns.

“We’re well used to travelling in Yorkshire to play games and we want to be positive about the games. We want to showcase the good stuff that is going on in the county and it’s a great opportunity for kids to go out and show everyone what we’re doing here.

“We’ll definitely be well represented.”

8 | April 28, 2012

The Irish Post

Ciara’s Herts in the right place

BY JOHN COLLINS WAY back in my youth there was a hit song called “It Ain’t What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do It”.

It was a cover version of an old song from the 1930s, recorded initially by people like the legendary Ella Fitzgerald.

However, despite what appearances might suggest, it wasn’t the iconic soul singer’s version that was a hit in my era, it was the one by Bananarama and The Fun Boy Three, and it was the sort of song that created the background music to my young life i.e. my father giving out yards about the quality of the music we were listening to and the fact that “there’s no proper story to that song” and that “you can’t waltz to songs like that”.

However, enough about the domestic conflict that prevailed in our humble home back then and on to matters more current, and it was this tune that came to mind recently when speaking with Hertfordshire Games Development Officer Ciara O’Brien, pictured.

A Coventry girl, born and bred, and a product of John Moore’s University in Liverpool, where she graduated from with a degree in Sports Development and PE, O’Brien has been in the post for the past four years, co-ordinating the development of Gaelic games across a county that spreads from Oxford all the way to Cambridge and includes several points in between.

It’s a pretty wide parish to serve.

However, she seems to be getting all her parishioners singing from the same hymn sheet, a praiseworthy effort indeed and one which says as much about the effervescence of her personality and the energy she has for the job she is doing, as it does for the hard work and dedication of the Gaels of Hertfordshire.

As the song goes, it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it and that’s what gets results.

There’s an honest energy to O’Brien that can’t be gained via courses or qualifications, but without it, all the training under the sun wouldn’t be worth anything in a role like she has.

And that energy isn’t just limited to the work she is doing with the people of her parish, as in the 20 minutes she spent with this tired old hack picking her brains, she remained up-beat and positive all the way through, selling the word of the GAA in her home county.

The basic parameters of her job have been outlined by the Hertfordshire County Board and were drawn up in a joint project between herself and the Board as she explained.

“Back in 2009 the County Board and I put together a development plan for Hertfordshire, so I work towards that, along with other

goals that are set by Britain and Croke Park.

“That includes working in schools, club development, Cúl Camps, as well as the work we do with ladies football. On top of that, we’ve got coaching courses and referees’ education to look after and organising the development squads. It’s pretty much everything to do with grass roots development of the game.”

Like so many of her peers across Britain, the interaction with the schools in her area is critical to access potential new players and also in promoting the games to people who previously might have been unaware of them.

However, in Hertfordshire, under Ciara’s watch, it seems like a pretty effortless relationship.

“We actually have a fantastic relationship with schools as the games really sell themselves, and the schools are always calling us in to deliver some Gaelic football,” she said.

“In the four years that I have been in the role, we’ve had a great relationship with the schools and a lot of clubs have built strong links with teachers.”

Those solid connections have helped to add a new string to the Hertfordshire bow in the form of one of the first youth ladies teams to be started in Britain, with Claddagh Gaels now hoping to be able to field a team in some competitions this year.

“Claddagh Gaels were set up a few years ago by a group of about 30 girls in Luton as a ladies team. However, they soon realised that the work they needed to do was to work in schools and to bring the girls on from there,” Ciara told me.

“A few of the players started coaching in the schools last year and now they have about 15 girls coming out and training.

“It’s great for the young girls because while some of them might play youth football for boys’ teams, they have to stop at 13 and then they are sort of in limbo for a few years. It’s a great initiative and the ladies involved are doing a brilliant job.”

And the positives don’t stop with the introduction of a girl’s team, as there is a lorry load of coaching and coach development going on under Ciara’s watch, with plenty of interest in both the coaching and, surprisingly, the refereeing aspects of the game.

“We had 16 coaches for the children’s Level One course and 14 for the Level One youth and adult course that we held last year.

“We’ve also just had a young referees’ course too and we had 19 lads attend.

We already have 25 young qualified referees who officiate at the Go Games blitzes and they get mentored by an experienced ref.

“We’ve just had our development meeting and we’ve identified a couple of young

Mick Foy with St Dympnas.

St Dympnas up for challenge

BY JOHN COLLINS MONAGHAN native Mick Foy is a busy man these days. It’s that time of the year when the Association takes over his spare time, and merely getting a chance to talk with him was something of a logistical nightmare.

The St Dympnas clubman’s evenings are fully occupied with the world of the GAA in Hertfordshire and like so many other dedicated Gaels, when he isn’t dashing to a meeting somewhere, he’s gathering kids for matches and training.

It’s a full-time job on a part-time timetable with a volunteer’s salary.

And judging by what lies ahead for St Dympnas youth footballers this year, 2012 isn’t going to offer Mick the opportunity to get any rest any time soon.

Fielding youth teams at all age groups from under-8 to under-18, St Dympna’s are a fine example of

a club that is fully committed and well established in the development of young players in Hertfordshire.

The ABC Championships are an opportunity that Foy, the players and the club members are looking forward to, in order to test their level against the rest of the clubs in Britain.

“Certainly from the talks we have had with parents, everyone seems to be buying into the idea of the games,” Foy said. “We had a meeting with the parents before we started our season a few weeks ago and they have all come back with a good understanding of the concept of the games and overall within the county there has been a pretty good response from the clubs.

“Playing games within your own county all the time means the whole thing becomes a bit stale.

“The one thing that has sold it to our parents is the chance to play against teams from other parts of the country so that we can see how

referees who are going to be fantastic senior referees in the future.”

And then of course there is the underage boys’ teams as well and this is an area of growth too for Ciara and her fellow coach, Luton-born Luke Moloney, who assists her on a part-time basis and whom Ciara describes as “brilliant”.

“We’re working in an area covering Luton, Watford, St Albans, Oxford and Waltham Cross and there is great activity going on in all those districts.

“For example, St Josephs in Waltham Cross are doing fantastic work and they have just created a senior team out of the young lads coming through over the years. The fruits of their labour are starting to show now.

“It’s fantastic and it’s great to see a lot of the boys who started training with

them when they were under-12 are now on the senior team.

“Excluding Cambridge Parnells, who don’t have any under-age teams at the minute, we have six underage clubs in Hertfordshire, although you could say seven as Claddagh Gaels are there now.”

To help with the further development of these teams, Ciara has, for the first time, run a series of GAA camps in various locations around the county over Easter.

“Over Easter we decided to run a few camps for the kids. So far we’ve had them in Luton, Oxford and Watford. We had 30 kids out in Luton, 15 in Watford and 10 in Oxford. The kids loved the concept and we got a lot out of it too.”

As far as the upcoming ABC Championships are concerned, Ciara

we have progressed as a club.”

And those feelings appear to be echoed around the county, as Mick confirmed when the subject of the wider picture in Hertfordshire was brought up: “I’d say every club would be fairly confident that they will have whatever age groups that they are fielding this year in Hertfordshire competition participating in the games.”

And as if the challenges of being involved in both Hertfordshire competition and also the ABC games wasn’t enough for the Gaels of Herts, their younger players also have an invitation to play in Croke Park on June 3 at half time in one of the Leinster Championship matches to be played that day, a massive honour for the young kids in the county and one that has them all very excited about the prospects of running out in headquarters.

So as busy as Mick Foy might appear now, it looks as if it’s only going to get busier. will be expecting a large representation from Hertfordshire, especially given that for most of the teams at least, it will be a day trip down rather than having to arrange and incur the cost of accommodation.

In summing up all that was going on in Hertfordshire at this moment in time, Ciara simply said: “We’ve so many good people involved here and so many people willing to give so much of their own time to the GAA on a volunteer basis. They really are the catalysts for all that is going on,” she said before pausing to add: “You know, we’ve a great little county here in Hertfordshire.”

And in response, the Gaels of Hertfordshire would say: “And we’ve a great Games Development Officer here as well.”