Seattle Sports Round-Up
ALL NACB Officers with their visitors from Ireland for the North American Finals in Boulder were Front L-R - NACB Honorary President Paddy Keaney, GAA President’s wife Juliette Kelly, Camogie Association’s Árd Rúnaí Síle De Bhailís, GAA President Sean Kelly, Ladies GAA Árd Rúnaí Helen O’Rourke, Ladies Football Referee Mary Foy, Ann Cooney, Men’s Football Referee Brian Crowe, BACK –– Leinster GAA Council Chair Nickey Brennan, NACB Treasuer Mickey Coyne, NACB Secretary John Keane, NACB PRO Eamonn Kelly, NACB Vice-Chair Chris Knightly, Hurling Referee Johnny McDonnell, NACB Chair Tommy Dolan, Camogie Referee Eamonn Browne, Former Munster GAA Council Chair Christy Cooney, Munster GAA Council Chair Sean Fogarty.
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North American Finals
The Seattle Gaels performed admirably at the North American Finals in Boulder, Colorado, on the Labor Day weekend, but all three teams failed to bring home silverware. The Seattle Gaels Women's team played magnificently but lost after being forced to play the San Francisco Clan na nGael team two players short for the entire 60 minutes with 13 Seattle players competing against 15 San Francisco.
Yet with 10 minutes to go, the Gaels were leading by a point and were drawing huge support from all the neutrals in attendance. However, their legs finally gave out and they lost in the end by five points.
THE SEATTLE GAELS MEN’S FOOTBALL TEAM
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THE SEATTLE GAELS MEN’S HURLING TEAM
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THE SEATTLE GAELS WOMEN’S TEAM
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The Seattle Gaels Hurlers, in their first ever Championship appearance, played very well but lost by one point to the St. Louis team that went on to win the NACB Junior “B” Hurling title.
The Gaels Men Footballers also played well against the Philadelphia Eire Og team but lost in the end by two points. However, when Philadelphia were deemed ineligible to advance to the next round because of some unregistered players, Seattle then played the New England Celtics team from Boston and were well beaten in that game.
One factor was the fact that it was Seattle's second game and Boston's first, but the Boston team, composed exclusively of American-born players, was very, very good and easily went on to win the NACB Men's Junior “C” Football title.
Overall, the North American Finals weekend in Boulder was the best yet in terms of field preparation, surface quality, organization and hospitality. The whole weekend's atmosphere and surroundings was the ultimate treat, as Boulder has it all versus the large market GAA cities, leading many to request that Boulder stays in the rotation as a host venue for future Finals. Next year's North American Finals will be in Philadelphia on September 2-4, 2005.
Soccer
Ireland's team in the World Cup Seattle Soccer Tournament did not qualify for the tournament finals, losing to Mexico 4-2 in a must-win game. The 32-team tournament was won by Bosnia with whom Seattle tied 1-1 in an earlier round. For more information on the tournament, visit www.worldcupseattle.org.
Olympic Gold
Cian O'Connor's Olympic gold medal for showjumping in Athens, was Ireland's ninth gold medal since independence in 1921. The first Irish-born winner of an Olympic gold medal was John Pius Boland, who won singles and doubles gold medals in tennis in Athens in 1896.
Tom Kiely won the all-round championship, the forerunner of the modern decathlon, at the St Louis Games in 1904. Peter O'Connor and Con Leahy won gold medals at the Intercalated Olympic games at Athens in 1906.
The first win under an Irish flag was Dr. Pat O'Callaghan in 1928, in the hammer event in Amsterdam, followed that same year by Bob Tisdall in the 440 yard hurdles, Ronnie Delany in the 1,500 meters in 1956 in Melbourne, Michael Carruth in 1992 in Barcelona in boxing, and in 1996, Michelle Smith won three gold medals and a bronze in Atlanta. Now in 2004 in Athens, Cian O'Connor adds his name to the list.
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