Gaelic glory sees Liverpool ‘United’ for once!

As readers of the LiverpoolStudent will know, it is rare to see players from opposing University sports teams in Liverpool exchanging a civil word during competition (just look at the recent furore over the men’s rugby union fixtures!!).  For the die-hards amongst us, it may seem hard to contemplate ever playing alongside someone who you have sweated blood, guts and tears trying to annihilate at every sports meeting for the past year!  However, when pride is eventually swallowed and the decision to combine forces is taken, the outcome can be particularly favourable to all concerned.

For the second year in a row, the two Ladies Gaelic Football teams from JMU and Liverpool Hope combined forces (along with University of Wales, Bangor) to retain the British Universities Ladies Gaelic Football Railway Cup for the North-West Region.  The competition saw the best players from each University representing their respective Regions, and competing for the title at the tournament last weekend (8/9^th Feb) in Birmingham.  After last year’s inaugural tournament, this year it was decided to stage the event alongside the men’s British Championships to show the men how far Ladies Gaelic Football has progressed in British Universities.

Six girls from JMU and five from Hope helped ease the North-West (also nicknamed ‘Liverpool United’) through the semi-final against the South to set up a final, played as a ‘curtain raiser’ to the men’s final, against the North-East.  After a swift change into some lovely black t-shirts by the North-West due to a clash of shirts, the game got underway.  The North-East used the advantage they had with the wind in their favour to put a number of scores on the board in the first half, and showed the benefit of having 11 girls from a single University in their team play.  In the second half, the roles were reversed, with the North-West taking the initiative and edging in front.  The game proved a physical affair, although Ladies Gaelic is supposedly a non-contact sport (anyone who has played will affirm it is not!!), with a number of heavy challenges flying in from the North-East.  In the end it was the combined might of the two Liverpool universities that proved to much for the North-East, with the North-West winning 1-10 (13) to 2-5 (11).  The girls competing are eligible for selection for the British Universities AllStar team, who will play a challenge game against the Irish Universities AllStars later on this year.

The final result was soured for the JMU girls by the fact that the men’s team lost out in the men’s Championship final to St Mary’s Strawberry Hill after extra-time.  Now the girls look forward to the British Universities Gaelic Games Ladies Championships, where I’m sure the healthy rivalry between JMU and Hope will be renewed with some fresh enthusiasm as the teams go head-to-head to compete for the All-Britain title!

(Caroline Digby - 10/02/03  Submitted to LiverpoolStudent newspaper)

JMU girls selected to represent region:

The North-West Regional Team 2003

North-West & North-East Captains with the referee

The referee throws the ball in to start the Final

North-West Captain, Felicia Matheson, receives the Railway Cup for the North-West