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| St. Brendan's and Trinity Milton met in the U8 Final. |
Hundreds of underage players and
families from the New England region made the 460 mile journey westwards to
Buffalo, NY to compete in the 2017 CYC tournament. It is the largest Gaelic sports youth
tournament outside of Ireland, and took place from July 27 – 30 at the
beautiful West Seneca Soccer Complex about 10 miles from downtown Buffalo. The fields were converted to facilitate Gaelic
sports for the weekend, and with hundreds of games to play, featuring thousands
of players from Canada to California, all 14 playing fields were needed. The event ran smoothly with the immaculate surfaces
providing a lush carpet for the players, plenty of trees to provide shade from
the sun, and water towers to keep players and coaches alike well hydrated
throughout the day. 150 local volunteers
ensured that the place was kept spotless and those who needed food (or drink)
were not left waiting. Buses ran on time
to ferry parents and participants to and from hotels. It was a massive credit to the local Buffalo
GAA club to prepare for and run an event of this scale with hardly a hiccup.
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| Ryan Nugent in action for St. Brendan's U8 Footballers. |
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| Kieran O'Driscoll in action for the U16 ISYL Hurlers. |
The Boston-Northeast region was well
represented at the event and teams from the Irish Sports Youth League, St.
Brendan’s, and Trinity Milton featured well.
Between them the local clubs entered 20 teams from U8 to U18, and several
players also featured on North American U16 and Minor County teams. Competition was stiff with some very strong
teams from New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco to face. Ten teams reached finals and there were 4 Cup
winners and 6 runners up. Both the U8A
and U10A hurling finals were all Boston affairs. St. Brendan’s U8’s defeated Trinity Milton in
the U8 final, while it was the ISYL U10s who came out victorious against St.
Brendan’s. Winners also included the
ISYL U14 Girls footballers and St. Brendan’s U8 footballers who each won their finals. Runner up plaques also went to U18B Footballers,
U18 Camogie, U12A Hurling, U16A Hurling and U18A Hurling.
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| ISYL, St. Brendan's, and Trinity in one Picture! |
North American County teams
features several players from the ISYL. Winners
were the U16 Boys football, U16 Girls football, and U18 hurlers, while the U16
hurlers shared the spoils with New York after the final finished in a draw. Aidan Joyce won the Player of the Game award
for his performance in goal for the North American team. Players who featured on the county teams were,
U16 Football: John O'Doherty, Colm O'Malley, Gerard Davoren, Michael
Kerr, Peter Bannon, Dylan Coyne, Kieran O'Driscoll, Stephen Joyce. Matt
Duane, Gerard Gannon, Eoin Gormley.
U16 Hurling: John O'Doherty, Colm
O'Malley, Gerard Davoren, Michael Kerr, Peter Bannon, Dylan Coyne, Kieran
O'Driscoll, Stephen Joyce. Matt Duane. U16
Girls: Aine Doyle, Aoife Delaney, Ciara
Heffernan. U18 Girls: Emma Lynch, Roisin Bannon. U18 Hurling:
Aidan Joyce, Tomas Griffin & Michael Moylan. U18 Football:
Denis Harrington, Tomas Griffin, Aidan Joyce, Michael Moylan, Sean
Winston.
Next year is the turn of the
Boston division to host the tournament.
Buffalo leaves us with a hard act to follow, but with some experienced
hands at the wheel it is one that is sure to be met.
By Rory O'Donnell
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