10 Gaelic Football clubs, 19 different teams, 180 kids, 250 burgers and hot dogs and one former
Arsenal legend were the ingredients for a great day of fun in Oxford on Bank Holiday Monday.
Gaelic Football has been played in Oxford since 1959, and Éire Óg has always pushed itself to the
fore in the Irish community in Oxfordshire.
In 2015 we restarted our youth programme after a break of ten years, and in early 2016 we started
planning a 7’s Youth Gaelic Football tournament in Oxford on the Monday of the Mayday Bank
Holiday. Many hours of meetings, emails, phone calls and calling in favours went into the planning of
this event. This tournament is for Under 8’s, 10’s and 12’s.
On the day we had a huge turnout with teams from Coventry, Birmingham, Cambridge, Luton ,
Reading and London. This was the biggest ever Gaelic Football Tournament held in Oxford and
plans are already afoot for the 2017 Youth 7’s tournament! The icing on the cake was of course our
special guest Martin Keown who presented the trophies and medals to the winning teams! Martin is
of Irish descent and played for Éire Óg Oxford in his formative years.
Huge thanks to all of the teams who attended; Sean McDermotts Birmingham, Roger Casements
Coventry, Four Masters Coventry, Cambridge Parnells, Claddagh Gaels Luton, St. Dympna’s Luton,
St. Anthony’s Reading, St Colmcilles St. Albans, North London Shamrocks and of course Éire Óg
Oxford. Huge thanks to all who took part in the tournament. Congratulations to the Winners St
Dympna’s, North London Shamrocks, St. Anthony’s Reading and Sean McDermotts.