Glasgow Gaels
This Year
Pictured : Peter Smart , Photo Credit : Jennifer Treacy
“ This year has been another great year for the club and in particular the men ’ s team have gained momentum this year . The ladies have been moved up to Intermediate level , which is proving a big challenge . However , they are holding their own against some of the best teams in Britain such as Dunedin Connollys ( Twice Intermediate All- Britain Champions ). The ladies contested a fantastic League final versus the Britain GAA stalwarts Connollys , losing out only in extra time . The referee said it was the best game of ladies football he had ever seen in Britain .
On the men ’ s side , as I said they ’ ve been gaining momentum in the past three years , going from winning only one game in the championship in 2014 to finishing first on points in the League in 2017 ( losing only 1 game ). However , they were narrowly defeated ( by a single point ) in the League final versus Dunedin Connollys . Their quest is always to win the Championship and have started off well with a win versus Tir Conaill Harps .
Since the issue in 2014 , the Gaels have added a Junior Mens team . A great opportunity for players to increase their game time and see their hard work come to fruition . A highlight over the past 2 years was the Junior team winning the League back to back in 2016 and 2017 and the championship in 2016 . Their quest for back to back Championship titles starts shortly .”
Youth Development
“ Youth development is very important and we hope to continue this as much as is possible . We face some growing pains as our core group of 12 year olds that we had in 2014 is now getting older and the move from primary to secondary school has proved difficult for retention .
However , there are some great and enthusiastic players coming out of the Schools in the Clydebank area , thanks to the CDA Niall Considine . Especially as far as girls go , we had four members selected to the Scotland Féile team who beat out a number of very good clubs in their division to reach the Semi-Final of their division in this year ’ s Féile . It was a fantastic result for the girls and it is a good sign for the development of underage Gaelic in Scotland . We are hoping to build on some of this momentum going into the next school year .” http :// www . glasgowgaels . com / 2017 / 06 / 30 / scotland-feile-teamsshine-irish-soil /
Community
“ We are absolutely a community club . Not only are a lot of our members based in the West End of Glasgow and Clydebank ( especially our younger members ) the club is a community in itself with 200 members and growing .
In our 2014 updates we mentioned our role in the Clydebank Community Sports Hub . This is now going ahead and ground will be broken this year ! Once this is finished , the location and the facilities ( Britains first full-sized floodlit 4G Gaelic pitch ) are a major draw to the community and we hope to continue growing our underage base from this .” http :// www . glasgowgaels . com / 2016 / 07 / 06 / 3-1m-clydebankcommunity-sports-hub-receives-greenlight /
Ambitions
“ In the next five years the club hopes to continue our efforts both on the field and off the field . Recently we have tried to expand our community offerings and engage more in community efforts . Every Christmas the club volunteers for the Christmas Bus collection in aid of St . Margarets Hospice in Clydebank .
It really is a great cause to get involved with and the club members look forward to it every year . We also held a clean-up day of our home pitch , Peterson Park , in where club members rolled up their sleeves and helped clear some of the debris that had built up in the green space over time . It was a rewarding experience . http :// www . glasgowgaels . com / 2017 / 05 / 21 / gaels-bag-tescogrant-hold-clean-up-day-petersonpark /
In addition , we held a suicide awareness class in conjunction with the NHS and Suicide Awareness Day that was attended by many of our members . We hope we can continue to engage more with the community and expand our efforts outside of our sporting offerings .”
Pictured : Patrick Finnegan , Photo Credit : Jennifer Treacy
Pictured : Glasgow Gaels v Dunedin Connollys , Photo Credit : Jennifer Treacy
Pictured : Sile Johnson , Photo Credit : Zul Bhatia Photography www . sportip . biz 49