Warwickshire Minors Prominent in All-Britain Hurling Team

Ten of Warwickshires best minor hurlers travelled to Belfast recently as part of an All Britain minor hurling panel, taking part in the annual Golden Cow Youth Games, organised by the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and Queens University, Belfast.

The games include 28 different sports, including hurling. As part of the mentoring set up between the Ulster G.A.A. and Britain a team from London had taken part in 2004, but it was decided that for 2005 an All Britain team should take part, including players from both Warwickshire and Hertfordshire.

Flying in to Belfast on the Friday afternoon, the team had a light workout the same evening to work out tactics and strategy. This would prove essential as their opposition would be county minor teams from 5 counties in Ulster, excluding Antrim, Down, Derry and Armagh who are regarded as stronger. This would be the first time the All Britain combination had the chance to play together as a team.

The competition took place on the Saturday and Britain`s first game was against Donegal. The Tyrconail lads came out on top in this game on a scoreline of 1:6 to 0:3, but All Britain mentor Denis Neenan felt that victory could have been theirs with more preparation.

From then on Britain did not look back, scoring a string of victories over Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Cavan to finish second overall in the competition, gaining many admirers from those present for their conduct and skill on the field and their behavious off it.
The Warwickshire players on the panel were Sean Egan, Charlie O`Loughlin, Kieran Brennan,

Kieran Mooney, Chris Forde, Harry Conway, Patrick Lambe, Lawrence Healy, Aiden Gallagher and Michael McInerney, who were accompanied by mentor Denis Neenan.

The results of the games played were as follows:

Donegal 1:06 Britain 0:03
Britain 3:04 Monaghan 1:05
Britain 4:08 Fermanagh 0:00
Britain 3:01 Tyrone 2:00
Britain 3:03 Cavan 1:01

Congratulations to all of those selected for the All Britain team, especially our own Warwickshire representatives who performed to such a high standard.

G.A.A. FOR AFRICA

A reminder to everyone that this years G.A.A. For Africa festival will take place on the weekend of July 9th and 10th. In addition to the usual sporting events, hurling, football, camogie etc there will be numerous other attractions over the weekend. Since its inception in the mid 1980`s, the festival has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Save the Children fund. It is run every year by Erin Go Bragh and support from everyone is welcomed and appreciated.