2015 North American Finals – Chicago
Gaelic Park, in the Oak Forest suburb south of Chicago,
hosted the finals for the first time since 2010. Clubs from all over North America, which
included the Hoboken camogie club in New Jersey, made the journey to compete
for national championships in several categories from Junior D football to
senior footall, camogie, and hurling. Six
teams traveled from the Northeast division and contested Men’s and Ladies
Senior Football, Junior B football and Junior A, B and C hurling. It turned out to be a barren weekend trophy
wise, with just Connacht Ladies making the final and falling to a very talented
San Francisco team. Chicago took both
men’s senior trophies with Harry Bolands and McBrides coming out on top in
hurling and football.
Friday the action began with the Junior B Hurlers from
Concord NH scoring a great quarter final victory over Raleigh by a score of
1-16 to 2-5 early in the morning. The
Donegal junior B footballers were knocked out on the first try by Baltimore,
while the Portland Junior C Hurlers had to get through 2 games to make their
semi-final. Portland had an easy win
over Seattle at 9:20 in the morning, and at 3:00 faced Denver. Denver were playing their first game of the
weekend, however, Portland looked the fitter, sharper side and with Larry
Maher, Dan Flanagan, and Joel Wezowicz firing on all cylinders the team from
Maine advanced on the back of a 4-9 to 2-1 win.
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| Hoboken Guards Camogie Team won the senior championship Sunday. |
Saturday saw Madison knock out Portland with a convincing
0-16 to 1-5 win, while Barley House Wolves also fell in the final seconds to a
last minute goal. The Wolves were well
on top in the game and led at one stage by nine points. Twin Cities, however, banged in 4 second half
goals, the last coming with seconds left, to leave the Concord men bitterly
disappointed. Donegal had the three time
winners, Ulster, reeling with 3 first half goals however eventually succumbed
to a 10 point defeat.
Connacht ladies were left to fly the Boston flag on finals
day, however, a fast and fit Fog City Harps team took full advantage of sin bin
infractions losing out by a score of 1-5 to 4-20 in the end. A disappointing weekend in terms of results
and will be Seattle getting a turn at hosting the 2016 finals. Here’s hoping that at least a trophy or two
will be heading from the Pacific Northwest to the New England region 12 months
from now.
Portland 1-5 Madison 0-16
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| Dan Flanagan in action for Portland. |
Portland’s hopes of making the final, and coming home with a
North American trophy, were dashed Saturday morning. The lads from Maine faced a skilled Madison
WI in the junior C hurling semi-final.
Perhaps the exhertions of playing two games the previous day took their
toll as Portland got off to a slow start and spent the remainder of the game
playing catchup. Matters were not helped
after Joel Wezowicz had to leave the field of play due to a foot injury, and
Portland were without a defensive leader.
Madison built up a considerable lead while the Mainers
struggled to find their range. Early in
the second half it was a 0-14 to 0-3 lead for the Wisonsonites as points were
put over the bar from distance. Portland
battled hard to keep the dream alive as Flanagan, Matt Anderson, Conor Boyle
and company put numerous balls into the danger zone, however shots drifted wide
or were well saved as Madison buckled down in defence to hold on.
A goal did provide a measure of hope late in the game,
however, time was running out and the gap between the teams was too wide to
bridge at that stage. Portland bow out
at the semi-final stage to their evident disappointment.
Barley House Wolves 2-14 Twin Cities 5-7
The Junior B hurling championship ended in bitter
disappointment for Barley House Wolves as the Concord men lost out to a last
minute goal.
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| Sean Naughton on the break for BHW. |
The first half saw Barley House Wolves build up a solid lead. At center forward Pat Naughton was involved
in everything, battling for every ball and accountable for several scores. There was a slight slope on the field, which
provided the Wolves with an advantage.
Steve Dejardain in the middle of the field was also very much involved,
while the defence with Alec Foley and Dan Hanna anchoring the corners played
tight and let very little go by them. At
the break it was a 2-8 to 1-2 lead and everything seemed to be going to plan.
The second half was a mirror image of the first. This time it was the Concord side that were
on the back foot as Twin Cities banged in two goals and what had looked like a
comfortable lead was now anything but.
As the Minnesota side edged closer with some well taken points, and a
handful of near misses, the Wolves managed to tally a couple of scores in the
latter stages to possibly hang on. With
time almost expired the New Hampshire side held a two point lead, a Twin Cities
converted free reduced it to one.
Then the unthinkable happed for the Wolves as a shot from a
very tight angle sneaked inside the near post and over the line. The Wolves had one last chance to try and
retrieve the situation, however, it was not to be. As the final whistle sounded it was the St.
Paul/Minneapolis side celebrating a magnificent come-back win, and heartbreak
for the boys from the Northeast.
It was a weakened Wexford junior A hurling side that took
the field against Indianapolis and were knocked out at first without much of a
fuss.
Donegal 3-8 Ulster 3-18
Donegal went out at the semi-final stage on Saturday, but
not without giving the 3 time North American Champions a scare. Though the team bore no resemblance to the
side that lifted the Boston championship the week before, it was a decent
looking side that took the field for Donegal.
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| Gavin Gallagher in action for Donegal v Ulster. |
Ulster, as was expected, eased into a five points to no
score lead. Michael McGinty pointed and
shortly afterwards put a goal into the back of the net. Donegal now showed a level of belief. Mal McDermott, Emlyn Mulligan, and Gavin
Gallagher were well involved and a second goal was fired in from Harry
Loughran. Donegal looked the better side
at this point and played the ball well through the middle. A third goal was put away as the Ulster
defence was carved open and the San Franciscans were reeling.
Ulster settled however and slowly chipped away at Donegal’s
lead until by half time it was Donegal still on top with 3-5 and Ulster with 0-9.
The second half saw the Ulster side assert themselves and
pull away to end up 10 point winners.
Donegal ran out of steam, while Ulster brought in fresh legs to keep
their momentum going.
Ulster had established a one point lead with 15 minutes to
go, but the floodgates opened then.
There were a couple of close efforts at goal early on as Ulster got
inside the Donegal defence, and eventually what was close turned into
scores.
Donegal tried to respond but ran into dead ends, the
dismissal of Gallagher for a high tackle did not help either. The anxiety on the San Fran sideline lessened
with each goal that went in, and in the end it was a 10 point difference
between the teams.
Connacht Ladies kept the Boston flag flying for the Sunday
by overcoming the local St. Bridgets side with a 6-13 to 2-7 semi-final
win. The big guns were all on form in
the Saturday game. Jane Ward, Ruth Cox,
Aimee McGuckin, Clara Fitzpatrick and Catriona Foley firing on all
cylinders. By half time the Connacht
girls had built up a big lead, and continued from where they left off in first
half. However, it would be a formidable
San Francisco side they would meet in the final where they faced Fog City
Harps.
Ladies Senior Football Final
Connacht Ladies 1-5 Fog City Harps (SF) 4-20
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| Clara Fitzpatrick runs at St. Bridgets defence. |
The Connacht Ladies were undone at the final hurdle by a
very talented and fit Fog City Harps who traveled from San Francisco. The game was well within reach of the Boston
side at half time. There was a seven
point differential. The San Francisco
side got going early in the second half, and at one point held a 3 player
advantage as the sin bin held 3 Connacht ladies players. It was one sided thereafter and with the
result in the bag, the San Francisco side piled it on over the final 10
minutes.
The game began brightly for the Bostonians, Jane Ward and
Amy McGuckin pointed. Fog City answered
with a point each from center forward Carol Hegarty and corner forward Laura
Connaughton, these two would prove to be a deadly combination as the game wore
on. The San Francisco side had most of
the possession, however, Connacht defended well and prevented the shot on goal
though conceded several frees. The
Boston side went into the lead again, Ward pointing two frees and the game
looked to be settling into a tightly contested affair. However the frees began to cost the Boston
side as four conversions in a row put San Francisco two to the good.
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| Cathal Moriarty with the final pep talk. |
Ward was shown the yellow with just over 20 minutes gone,
and the west coasters capitalized, the goal came after Hegarty found
Connaughton with a pass and the two point difference became 5. With Connacht finding it hard to get past the
extra defender to set up scores, the five points seemed a big gap to try to
close. Fog City ended the half with two
more points, both from center back Jordan McGee who was at liberty to roam
forward.
With Connacht needing an early couple of scores to settle
back in, and Ward due back on the field in a matter of minutes, there was
certainly hope. The hopes were dashed as
in quick succession an additional 2 players were sin binned for heavy
challenges. Connacht now down to 12 for
a brief period. Fog City started to pull
away as the scores piled up. Two quick
goals back to back put the outcome beyond any doubt and by the time the Boston
side was back to full strength it was as good as over.
The celebrations began at the final whistle as the ladies
senior cup heads back to the west coast after a year back east. So ended the Boston interest in the North
American Finals for 2015, and although there were no cups heading back to
Boston, the efforts of the clubs who made the journey and kept the Northeast
flag flying are to be appreciated. It
will be Seattle getting a turn at hosting the 2016 finals, and here’s hoping
that at least a trophy or two will be heading from the Pacific Northwest to the
New England region 12 months from now.
By Rory O'Donnell
Senior Hurling Final:
Naomh Padraig (San Fran) 0-15 Harry Boland’s (Chi) 1-16.
Men’s Senior Football Final:
McBride’s (Chi) 2-11 Ulster (San Fran) 0-10
