The Aer Lingus International Hurling Festival takes place
the from September 18 – 21st as part of The Gathering – a drive to
attract Irish exiles and descendants back to the homeland for at least a few
days this year. Teams from all over the
world were invited to take part in the tournament. The Barley House Wolves, from Concord New
Hampshire, are joining forces with Allentown Gaels from Pennsylvania to compete
in the Non-Irish section where they will play for the title of World Champions
in their category.
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| 2012 NACB Junior C Champions Heading to Ireland |
By now the story of the Barley House Wolves has been well
told. In 2005 a group of New Hampshire
National Guardsmen returning from a one year tour of duty in Iraq stopped at
Shannon Airport in Ireland on their way back to the U.S. and saw a game of
hurling on the television. The idea of
starting a hurling club to keep the lads together came up. Many had played either ice hockey or lacrosse
and hurling allowed the soldiers who had spent a year in the line of fire to
stay together with a game that combined the skills of the other 2 games.
The Wolves started out in the junior C section of the
Northeast division of the Gaelic Athletic Association. After reaching the national final in 2011,
the Wolves won the championship in 2012 after beating their allies for the trip
to Ireland, Allentown. The Wolves have
now moved up to compete in the junior B division for the North American
Championship. The Concord men also still
field a junior C team that competes with 3 other clubs in the region, Portland
Maine, Worcester Mass, and Hartford Connecticut.
A traveling party of 20, including players, coaches, and
supporters will depart for Ireland to play in the festival tournament. The players and traveling supporters are
extremely excited to be going says manager and club secretary, Alan
Mangan. Mangan, a native of Cork who
moved to New Hampshire 2 years ago after spending 18 years in the Boston area
is hoping to come back with a trophy to add to last season’s Northeast and NACB
championships.
The New Englanders will face teams from Buenos Aires
Aergentina, a Denver/Indianapolis combination team, and a European team. Their division will feature non-Irish players
only. Games will be played at pitches
that feature prominently in the hurling heartland of Galway. First will be Castlegar to play Europe, next
stop is Pearse Stadium to meet Buenos Aires, and then it is off to Tonabrucky
to meet their fellow Americans, Denver/Indy.
The top two teams will then meet in the final at the famed Pearse
Stadium in Galway city on Saturday. Mangan
is familiar with the other United States based opponents, Denver/Indy, and has
done some research on the Argentinians, many of whom have played Rugby at a
high level. The Europeans will be the
biggest unknowns for the team from the Northeastern United States.
The Wolves are bringing with them Olympic trainer, Stuart
Kremzner. Kremzner is a professional
trainer and has coached over 300 elite and professional athletes. The Barley House Wolves are listed on his Web
site amongst Olympic, NBA, and NFL athletes.
With a physical trainer of these credentials, and a band of extremely
enthusiastic players from the towns of Concord NH and Allentown PA, how could
you bet against these fellas coming back to the United States as the top team of
non-Irish players worldwide?
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