Warwickshire Youth GAA Reaches New Heights
By Brian Roberts

Conal Dowling Sean McDermott’s Captain

This month saw the close of the exciting Warwickshire G.A.A Youth league and championship competitions with an estimated 1200 young people from 33 teams taking to the field, to demonstrate the rapid growth of Gaelic games in the midlands.
Pairc Na h’Eireann was the scene of a last ditch attempt by clubs from Birmingham and Coventry to clinch some GAA silverware. However, there was little or no surprise’s in the end of year honour roll- other than St. Brendan’s of Kings Heath managing to break Sean McDermott’s dominance in the under-10 and under-12 competitions. At under-14 and under-16 level it was Roger Casement’s and John Mitchell’s who successfully completed a clean sweep of trophies.
This past year, youth GAA competitions kicked off with renewed enthusiasm amongst coaches, mentors, parents and juvenile county board officers in Warwickshire. In recent years, with the success of the highly acclaimed GAA in schools initiative, Warwickshire chiefs now had to adapt the league to cater for a new influx of young people. In the close season, the league and championship competition were revamped to bring GAA clubs in the midlands in line with their counterparts in Ireland. The new look league focused on the launch of an under-8 Tag Gaelic Football festival and the introduction of an A and B division at under 10 and under 12 level, to provide fair, equal and season long competition for participating teams.
With a 6-week summer break in July and August, it was estimated that 146 competitive games between 10 clubs were played at under-10 and 12 competitions over 8 months. From the first round of games on Saturday 3rd April, teams played 9 games each to determine a place in the A or B division, and it was the Birmingham and Coventry clubs who set an early lead. Sean McDermott’s, St. Brendan’s, Four Masters and Connelly’s maintained a rich vein of form and successfully qualified for the top division. But it was Sean McDermott’s who would hold that form till the last day of the season when they disposed of St. Brendan’s to win the under-10 and under-12 leagues competitions. Both clubs returned again to contest the championship finals but this time titles were shared with Brendan’s taking the under-12 trophy and McDermott’s the under-10 trophy.
With the new Dr. Ryan and John Conlon trophies up for grabs it was all to play for in the under-10 and under-12 B Division. Birmingham clubs Setanta, John Mitchel’s and Erin Go Bragh, were joined by Leicester’s Naomh Padraig and Coventry’s Roger Casements and St. Finbarr’s to contest the B league competitions. But it was Roger Casements who perhaps left their best form till last by clinching the Under 12 B trophy and Provincial Shield titles.
At under-14 and under-16 level, Roger Casement’s of Coventry and Birmingham’s John Mitchel’s domi-nated at both local and provincial competition, making a clear indication that Warwickshire is fast becoming a county to be reckoned with on the provincial circuit.
In international competition, the under-14 Warwickshire boys and the Bishop Challoner Girls Feil Peile teams travelled to Tyrone to compete against teams from Ireland in the annual youth festival. The Warwickshire boy’s team once again put on a fine performance before losing out in the Division 4 final whilst the Challoner girls narrowly missed a place in the knock out stages. However the biggest achievement for the girl’s Gaelic football was the news Becky Daley’s was crowned All- Ireland skills competition winner and making her the first GAA player outside of Ireland to win the coveted trophy. The Warwickshire under-12 schools representative team also tasted success this year when they competed in a game during the interval of the Leinster Senior Gaelic football final. In front of a crowd of over 55,000 and countless number of fans watching on TV at home, the team demonstrated that Warwickshire can compete on the international stage and that Gaelic games in the midlands clearly has reached new heights.