Congratulations to everyone on a very enjoyable weekend. The inaugural staging of these games were an unmitigated success with over 130 players and supporters in attendance, and will hopefully serve to put the Abu Dhabi Fianna firmly on the GAA map in the Gulf. The contribution and support from everyone was extremely gratifying, and, as was said on more than one occasion last Thursday, the enthusiasm shown was second to none.
The format saw Abu Dhabi field three teams in both the men's and women's football competitions, the fourth in each case being supplied by our friends and rivals from up the road, the Dubai Celts. In temperatures soaring into the mid-forties the newcomers to football in the Gulf learned the hard way what it is really all about! Water was guzzled at a fierce rate and many a call for something a bit stronger was heard by the lucky souls in the shade!
The men's Round Robin competition was won by the Fianna C team, narrowly defeating Dubai on scores average. The women were not so lucky, as a strong Celts team proved too strong for the split Abu Dhabi selections on the day. Still, fantastic promise shown by the girls, most of whom had never kicked a ball in anger a mere three weeks ago...good times ahead.
A very gratifying event was the first ever fielding of an entirely Abu Dhabi based hurling team. We've never had the full complement before so to actually take on the might of Dubai, the reigning Gulf champions, and hold them to a 1:5 each draw was a real feather in our caps. The beaming smiles on the faces of team captain Dessie Reilly and long time stick-fighter Johnny Rea were definitely worth the wait!
 Back at the Abu Dhabi Grande Catherine had a fine Irish Stew and a couple of cold bottles of 'beverage' waiting for all the participants so all that lost liquid was quickly accounted for...then it was onto the P.J.O' Reilly's tables for the usual post match craic!
Now that we've seen what can be done, it remains for us to start building on the abundance of talent available to us this year in order to put in place the teams capable of mounting a challenge for the big honours to come. We on the committee have no doubt whatsoever that this is going to be a momentous season for Na Fianna, but of course nothing will happen without the support of everyone...so let's keep it going.

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ChallAnge and ChallangeE Trophies (Sic)

 Once again well done to all who participated in the UAE championship first round matches against Dubai at the weekend. The whole event was extremely enjoyable and hopefully will give us a taste for more of the same! All four football teams performed with great distinction, and the performances from some players in their first ever game of gaelic football was fantastic. 

 The women's B team played very well, holding a strong Dubai scoreless until the second half before the hot  conditions started to take a heavy toll on our  midfield in particular...both of whom had to be replaced after running themselves into the ground...well done Karen and Tracy...great stuff in your first game, ye did both England and Scotland proud! Actually it seems a bit unfair to name anyone in particular as everyone did their bit equally well. Once Dubai got the upper hand their superior training  told and we couldn't stop them as they finished strongly. 
 Similarly for the men's B team...a very strong Dubai team made it very difficult but some strong  performances made the scoreline very close at the end.  Lack of fresh legs to bring on played a major role as there were some very tired players by the end. 

 The women's A team rightly scared the daylights out of an excellent Dubai team. They have been playing together now for well over a year, indeed are unbetaen since winning the Gulf Championship in March, and yet our team, playing in their first game as a team could have and, perhaps but for some dubious decisions, should have come away with a famous victory. Indeed we led by 5 points with five minutes to go but Dubai kept attacking, eventually sealing a one-point victory with literally the last kick of the game. The final score read Dubai 1:6 Abu Dhabi 2:2 .Congratulations  to all involved, and especially to Lorraine on being selected as player of the match.This team wil be very strong and will, Insh'allah win next time! Incidentally, Stephen's pre-match speech ("...football, like sex, is a contact sport...so get stuck in!!!") I'm sure inspired the girls to their great performance. 

 The men's A team had a great battle with Dubai, sealing another victory over the old enemy with a storming finish. Two fine scores from John Dennigan,  and another Adrian Reen special saw us come back from 4 points down to eventually win by 1-7 to 1-5. We should know by now that this is a very good team, but we need to play together a lot more to build a team that will challenge for this year's major  championships. All in all though a fine gutsy performance...and a few aching limbs (and chins) later that night. 

 The hurling unfortunately was left until too late and so just turned into a bit of a procession for Dubai, indeed some of our players were already in the showers by the time we decided to go ahead with the game!!  Hurling under floodlights is an interesting spectacle!

 The whole day was a great learning experience, we saw how best to use the players we have and will only  benefit from that...and as for the night in the Irish Village...well I think we did ourselves justice. On calling by next morning we were cursed because they had no tables inside that would still support any bit of weight!

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Firstly, I'd like to congratulate all those who participated so brilliantly over the weekend. Secondly, I'd like to commiserate with all those of  you whose throat feels as raw as mine and whose eyelids feel like they need to be stitched open! 
A momentous weekend for the Abu Dhabi Fianna saw us participate at a very high standard in what was an excellently well run tournament, featuring the participation of eight different clubs from around the Gulf. 

 Each team gave their all and although we didn't come away with any of the winners's trophies we definately opened a few eyes as to the potential we have within the club. Indeed the determination to improve and succeed voiced at the end of the games augers well for the rest of the season. 

 The men's team met our old nemesis Dubai at the semi-final stage and after a very hard battle eventually went down by a single goal. However, when taken into consideration that Dubai had all but one of their starting line up from last month's game, while we were short five of our players (and had to borrow a couple from Dubai!), the performance can only be seen as very encouraging. The game itself was an excellent fare with plenty of swift football...and for once no "dodgy" tackles. It was close right up to the final two minutes when Dubai scored a fortuitous deflected  goal that effectively sealed the affair. 
The final score was:
Abu Dhabi Fianna 2 : 4 Dubai Celts 3 : 5

 Earlier we had beaten the Riyadh B team quite easily on a scoreline of 0:8 to no score to progress to the semi-final stage. Dubai eventually lost the final to a very fit Riyadh team. 

 The women's team managed to go a step further, qualifying for the final by beating Dhahran in a very close encounter by 2 : 3 to 1 : 2. Both the team's performances on the day were highlighted by some very good passages of play, in particular the  first goal against Dhahran, coming as it did after a passing movement that took us the length of the field. Unfortunately, Dubai proved too fit for us in the final, built up too much of a lead with the breeze and consequently  ran out winners 2 : 3 to 0 : 2  Again though, an excellent performance by all concerned and great hope for the future. 

 Johnny's 'Flying Column', featuring four Fianna  hurlers won the Plate competition in the hurling after losing out narrowly to a strong Dubai team at the semi-final stage. 

 For the record the Abu Dhabi teams lined out as follows: 
 Men: Stephen Hayes, Denis Crotty, Des Reilly, P.J. Kirwan, Anthony Carey, Gearóid Leen, Seán De Paor, Dónal Lonergan, Johnny Rea, John Moran 

 Women: Denise Carroll, Áine Roche, Jacqui Nolan, Tracey Barradell, Maura Geoghegan, Karen Frehill, Sarah Howard, Gráinne O'Mahoney, Ann Marie Galvin, Áine Fay, Breeda Murphy 

 Hurlers:Johnny Rea, Denis Crotty, Des Reilly, Stephen Hayes 

 The weekend was made complete by the total annhilation by Abu Dhabi of all competition in the post match seisúin and sing song, winning by the proverbial 
 mile...again! This fine tradition of singing 'till we drop has served us well over the years...and should the voices hold out will continue to bring more honour to the club, as well as complimentary comments such as "ye're all mad Bast#rds!" (just one of the pleasant  comments levelled at us by the rather mute Riyadh contingent!).We'll not mention the comments from the hotel security 
 ...looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow..liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie 
 the fields... 

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 Sure what else would you call a tournament this side of Christmas. We can't have turkey without ham, and out here sure we can't even have the ham!
Great to see such a large number from the Fianna escape the clutches of Ramadan and make the two hour trip to the second city for the HT tournament over the weekend. It was a great occasion and another valuable step along the learning curve for the various Fianna teams. 

For the record we fielded three teams. First into action was the hurling team, ably marshalled by Dessie Reilly. Unfortunately we didn't win, but the potential shown was very encouraging. Considering the fact that we are unable to train for hurling at the moment this was a very good performance, and once we get a couple of training sessions behind us in the new year there's no reason to believe that we won't be challenging for honours in March. Dubai have set the standard but it's not one that's beyond our reach. 

The Ladies football team again showed just how much improvement they have made in three short months. Although Dubai did win by two goals in the end the match was much closer than the scoreline ( 2 : 4 to 0 : 4) showed. Indeed most of the game was played in the Dubai half with our team missing a number of chances to draw level and indeed take the lead. Some fantastic performances all around, with a big congratulations due to team captain Maura for winning player of the match. All we  need to do now is to develop a bit more tactically (learn how to play 'cute'!) and we'll beat them yet and take the ChallAngee trophy back to AD! 

 The men's team won a titanic battle with a full strength Dubai team on a scoreline of... 
Abu Dhabi 4-10 
 Dubai     2-15 

A single point victory after 50 minutes of very tough  football. Again, some out-standing performances but in all a great team effort. Level 4-05 to 2-11 after full time we decided to play 10 mins. of extra time in order to seal the destination of the ChallAnge trophy for the rest of this year, and with some determined  play and excellent scores from Gearóid, John Dennigan and Felim we ensured that it would indeed travel back to Abu Dhabi. We still have a few wrinkles to iron out but if we can keep the same team spirit we'll be a real force in Dubai in March. 

As with previous occasions we retired post haste to the Irish Village, where we were soon making up for the present closed conditions of the Abu Dhabi watering holes, assaulting the bar with great relish. Despite the moratorium on singing we did manage to squeeze out a few bars before the big lads in the bulging T-shirts managed to quieten us down...not an easy task!

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All-Stars

The visit by the GAA All-Stars of 1999 and 2000 to Dubai proved to be a momentous and historic occasion for Gaelic Games in the Gulf. To meet these fine players 'up-close' was indeed an experience for those of us out here, and will certainly make watching this year's championship a bit more interesting when you can relate to some of those who no doubt will be the stars.

As a prequel to the actual exhibition match we were asked to form a Gulf selection to take on Dubai, and officially play the first ever game of football on a real full size Gaelic football pitch...with real posts! Unfortunately, the timing of the tour coincided with the annual teacher's holidays in the Gulf, so, most workers out here being teachers of one type or another, the number of players available for selection was much diminished. Nevertheless, a great effort was made by Abu Dhabi players to be on hand for this historic event, with flights from places like Malaysia, Thailand, Oman and even Ireland itself all bearing players who'd made the decision to cut their holidays short for the cause.

Therefore, on the day we had a good crew of 20 to pick from. However, it was still of course holiday time, and most of the lads discovered that the All-Stars were very (inadvertantly) generous with their mini-bars in the team hotel...thus what ensued on the playing pitch could very well have been a trailor for a new updated Keystone Cops movie. Our full back line of Jonesy and Tom were particularly outstanding...even managing to stay on their feet during one attack! Half-time brought particular confusion, with some of our lads electing (again inadvertantly!) to continue playing into the same goal they had been defending in the first half. Needless to say Dubai ran out winners, since they were marginally more focused. Highlight of the match was probably the attempted diving header by Ian Walker from a pinpoint cross by Adrian Reen...could have been spectacular. C'mon the robots.

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A mighty time was had by all the  Fianna who took part in the Al Ain tournament over the weekend. It was another great day's/night's entertainment and great credit must go to Pat O'Mahoney, Brian Cunniffe and the Al Ain Irish Society for their organisational skills. 

Unfortunately, the municipality had beaten us to the pitch, and their attempts to put it right left the ground looking like the surface of the moon. Indeed, some of our vertically challenged players faced a real difficulty with some of the craters left behind. The games themselves where a real mixed bag. A fantastic performance by our women to finally beat Dubai 1:3 to 1:2 in the "Real" match. Great gutsy  performances all around, and with the right commitment there's no reason to believe that we can't beat them again in March. Well done to all the players. 

The men left it very late to get a result against  Dubai. It took a hell of a long time to get to grips with them, but being 7 points down with just five minutes to go we saw the true Abu Dhabi spirit shine through. Great goals from Seán Griffin and John Dennigan brought the scoreline to the minimum before Felim out-did even the great and folklored Tony Lowry point of many years ago to score from what seemed like 300m out to equalise with the last kick of the match. 
The final score was Abu Dhabi 2:4 Dubai 0:10. 
A very close call, but we retain the ChallAnge by the skin of our teeth. We know ourselves that a much greater effort and commitment will be needed to avoid that kind of scare in Dubai. Like with the women, the result in Dubai lies entirely in our own hands...we are definitely good enough to win it. 

The barrel of free porter was like nectar from the gods, while the band just about made themselves heard above the Abu Dhabi Fianna chorus. Cheers Al Ain.

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Abu Dhabi Fianna men's team are the new All-Arabian Gulf Champions following our brilliant displays in Dubai over the weekend. All our hard work on the sand paid off as we decimated the opposition and won plaudits from all quarters for the style in which we played and the manner that we conducted ourselves, both on and off the field. It was a very long and arduous day but we managed to keep our composure and  focus throughout, approaching the whole day in a very professional and committed way. 

 The A team played two perfect games to win the Championship. In the semi-final we faced Riyadh, holders and champions for the past four years, and completely overwhelmed them in a sparkling team display, eventually running out as winners on a scoreline of 1:8 to 1:3. Scores came from John Moran (1:1), Adrian Reen (0:2), Anthony Carey (0:1) and John Dennigan (0:4) 

 In the final we then faced the old enemy, Dubai. Again, we played excellently as a team and succeeded in  beating them soundly on a scoreline of 1:7 to 0:3, the scores coming from Adrian(1:2), Ciarán Ryan (0:1), John Moran (0:1) and John Dennigan (0:3). This was the biggest winning margin we have ever had over Dubai,  and the spontaneous scenes of jubilation at the final  whistle bore testement to how much this result was valued by the large number of Abu Dhabi supporters present. 

The full team was: 
Mark Vevers, Alan Jones, Denis Crotty, Tom McElligott, Niall Hehir, Dessie Reilly, John Dennigan, Ciarán  Ryan,  John Moran, Anthony Carey, Adrian Reen and Gearóid Leen. 

An extra well deserved result was the naming of John Dennigan as player of the tournament. He has been our outstanding player all year, and his sheer class shone  through on the day. 

Of course the day was not just about one team. The strength in depth of the squad we have was clearly evident in the display of our B team, who also excelled in winning the Plate competition, beating  Dubai B in the final by 1:3 to 0:2, after having overcome Riyadh B in the semi-final. Many of the representatives on this team could just as easily have played on the A team, and it gave us a great feeling of security and confidence to know that each position was so well deputised. 

 The winning squad was: 
Mark Vevers, Ben 'Scouse'Kehoe, Dixie Collins, Adrian Dennehy,Seán Delaney, Brendan O'Shaughnessy, Stephen Hayes, Dónal Lonergan, Declan Brady, Seán Griffin,  Neil Creedon, Johnny Rea, Pat English and Tom McElligott. 

 A feature of this game was the kickouts from Ben, who actually managed to put one just wide of the posts!  Has it ever been recorded for a player to score from a kick-out?

 The women's team were very unfortunate to lose to Riyadh in the semi-final of their competition. They played excellently throughout the day but just could not get the score that mattered despite putting immense pressure on the opposition for the last quarter of their match. Having come back from a half-time defecit of 7 points to within a point of  Riyadh they were then hit by a breakaway goal in the last two minutes, a score that in effect sealed the  match. The final score was Riyadh 3:2 AD 1:5. The ball just would not go under the bar! Having to play the match merely 25 minutes after finishing their first game, some unfortunate refereeing decisions and kicking 7 wides all mitigated against a very gallant, dedicated and skilful team who in my eyes are winners for the way they have improved so much over the year. Next year we'll be stronger and will hopefully prove to everyone that this result was just bad luck.  In their first match the girls beat Dubai B by 0:10 to 0:0, with some fantastic displays of point scoring. Incidentally, Dubai's A team went on to win the final for the second year running, defeating Riyadh by a point in a closely faught tussle.
The full squad was: 
Ann Brady, Áine Roche, Jacqui Nolan, Valerie Hynes, Lorraine Monaghan, Karen Frehill, Celine McArthur, Maura Geoghegan, Rita Hehir, Sarah Howard, Breeda Murphy, Ann Marie Galvin, Kate Brand, Marian McElligott, Denise Carroll, Áine Fay and Emma Rose 

Finally, we also managed to reach the semi-final of  the Hurling competition, beating Dubai B along the way, before going out to a very strong Riyadh team. 
Some outstanding performances, in particular from captain Dessie Reilly, kept us in the hunt for a while but our lack of practise in hurling showed in the long run. Hopefully something we can remedy in the future. 

 So many emotions came to the surface on Thursday, so many that it's impossible to describe them all. All in all though, a great weekend, and one that every single member can be proud of for a long time to come. I don't think we'll ever forget that first couple of minutes of sheer joy from everyone after the referee's final whistle pronounced us  champions...long may it last. The cups (and most of  the players)were well filled last night and are now on display in P.J.'s 

 Go raibh míle maith agat do gach duine...bhí onóir mór orm an corann a glacadh! 

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Longford
 

Longford became the first ever senior inter-county football team to visit Abu Dhabi when they arrived on March 29th. A great holiday was planned for them by the hard-working organising committee of P.J. Kirwan (the Longford legend), Johnny Rea, Anthony Carey, Denise Galvin and Catherine Milling, one of the highlights of which was the chance to play both against and along with some of these fine footballers.

The hangover from the previous week's championship success was still very much in evidence when we ran out onto the field to take on the Longford team at the Al Jazira Soccer grounds. Longford fielded a very strong team to begin with but soon discovered that the team they were facing was not the same as the team which had had such swashbuckling success the previous week. Indeed, only six of the victorious Abu Dhabi Gulf Championship winning team started the game, and three of those had been showing our Longford visitors the 'sights' of Abu Dhabi until practically two hours before kick off in a brave, but ultimately fruitless, attempt to 'lessen' their playing abilities on the day...good try Dessie. Jonesy and Tom gave an excellent repeat performance of their display at the All-Stars match in January, leaving poor Mark to fend for himself in goal. Even the addition of a handful of our compatriots from the Dubai Celts failed to make much of an impact on the fast moving Longford lads and they quickly showed us that they could adapt to the heat! I wouldn't go as far as to say that it was a 'sobering' experience but it certainly helped. The end result was a 4 : 12 to 1 : 4 victory for the lads from the midlands, with the Emirates scores coming from Anthony Carey (1 : 2), John Moran (0 : 1) and Derek Flynn (0 : 1).

After this game the Longford panel played a game amongst themselves, demonstrating to the large Irish contingent present the true beauty of this game when played at the highest level. To finish off the day we picked two teams mixed between Longford and the Emirates and played a competitive and enjoyable finale to a historic day in the life of the Fianna.

At a special presentation function that evening in the Abu Dhabi Grand Hotel, a special presentation of a Silver Dhow was made to Martin Skelley, Chairman of Longford G.A.A, on behalf of the Fianna. Presentations were reciprocated and then the customary sing-song erupted!

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Desert Tournament

Ahem...well what can be said about this day out in Dubai that won't look like a horror story!! A very fired up Celts team took us to the cleaners to record their first victory of the current UAE championship, playing some excellent football, and generally leaving us chasing shadows. In our favour I suppose the fact that most of us hadn't kicked a ball in anger since the championship, and definitely demonstrated the benefits of too many 'training sessions' in P.J.O'Reillys, might be used as excuses, but fair dues to Dubai...they hit us with all the hunger we had previously displayed and brought us down to earth with a thud. Winning does breed complacency! Still it's been a long hard year so being beaten by a scatter of points (15!!) is allowable when all that happened before is taken into consideration. We'll be back for the start of the new season, and hopefully raring to go once again. The trip to the desert was good craic, although the 'good-natured' jibes from the Dubai lads led to a very determined dune relay squad winning the Muscely Man trophy for the first time...we had to win something! The singing, as usual, went on 'till the sun came up, whereupon all able bodied survivors crawled into the shade and sang a few more songs to welcome the day.

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