Day 1. Monday 21st Sept.
A visit to Croke Park and the impressive new GAA Museum, was followed by a lunchtime banquet and festival opening by GAA president Joe Mac Donagh.
The team's first match was against the Rest of Britain team, who were short players and conceded the points, but played a match with several St.Vincents/Dublin senior players. The Europe squad had not settled players' positions for this match and the result reflected this.
Day 2. Tuesday 22nd Sept.
We had 2 matches: The first was against New York, a club established since 1914, a club with 3 National League Titles, a team that has beaten All-Ireland Champions, a club with a long tradition, structure, and management.
The second match was against London, a team which plays in the All-Ireland Senior Inter-County Championship since 1900 and plays in the National League, a team with a "Croker Cup" title ( once more prestigious than the All-Ireland).
Following a trying performance which saw New York team winning comfortably, the morale was low and heads were down. But the match against London was the game everyone had waited for. The sideline mentors made a few dynamic positional changes, the team focussed on the job at hand.
The European Team, just 3 days in existence, stunned the opposition. Midway through the second half, only one score seperated the sides. Although the Europe Team lost the match, it was a heroic display.
Day 3. Wednesday 23rd Sept.
The Europe squad lost 3 players through work commitments, leaving a bare panel of 16 which included 4 injured players: 2 hamstrings, one ankle, and one finger injury.
The North American Board featuring several former intercounty stars won the first match easily.
Europe's last game was against Canada. Gaelic games in Canada dates to 1924. The GAA in Toronto has been most active since 1950's/1960's. At present they have 8 senior men's teams.
Europe, playing with tired limbs, injuries and a bare panel, played their hearts out, and lead Canada 1-1 to 0-3 at half time. Both physical and match fitness were the telling factors in the end, when Europe lost out narrowly.
The general feeling among the team is, that if Europe had played Canada on Tuesday, with the full squad, fresh legs and no injuries, then the Europe would have won. BUT c'est la vie.
Overall, the creditable performances against Canada and London, leaves a firm foundation from which to build the Europe GAA towards the next tournament in the year 2000.
Looking forward to seeing you then ...
......Page 2
P1 ... Introduction
P3 ... Coaching, Table Quiz, etc
P4 ... the Players, Selectors and Mentors