A few Boston GAA teams struggle in Philadelphia.
Sunday September 3, 2006 The Roscommon Ladies junior and senior teams have been knocked out of competition in the semi finals this weekend at the NACB play offs. McAnespies Junior A & B teams would also suffer the same fate. Remnants for tropical storm Ernesto left the playing fields in terrible condition. Fr. Tom’s junior hurling team and Galway intermediate football team faired better and are through to the finals today.. More to follow.

Update: Sunday 6:00pm EST/

The Galway intermediate team would be the only Boston team to claim the victory in their final in Philadelphia. This caps off a great year for the team and manager Manus McFadden. In senior football McAnespies would fall to a rough and tough Chicago team, early injuries would take its toll on the Mac’s. In senior hurling a much different looking Wexford team, which claimed victory in Boston just a week earlier would lose in the final. More details to follow.

In Ladies senior football, The Roscomon girls would not let the final slip away from them this year, as they

held on to the very end to claim victory over thier rivals The Shamrocks.

Boston Ma. August 30, 2006. Boston can again lay claim to some of the best GAA action this side of the Atlantic Ocean, with the successful conclusion of the 2006 Boston Northeast GAA Championship finals that were played over this past weekend at the Irish Cultural center in Canton. In conditions that were to say the least miserable, a large crowd was in attendance in the pouring rain to witness some fine Gaelic football and hurling action. [For a full report on all the action, check out The Boston Irish Zine]It is on from here to Philadelphia this coming weekend for the North American Championship finals [click here for the full schedule of games]. All going well I plan on being on the sideline to capture all the action. The very best of luck to all the teams..

The NACB final will be played at

7979 State Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19136-3407

Google Map it!

[looks better on the ground!]

The Boston teams that will feature in Philadelphia

2006 Ladies Senior Champions: Roscommon
2006 Ladies Junior Champions: Roscommon
2006 Men’s Senior Football Champions: McAnespies
2006 Men’s Junior Football Champions: McAnespies
2006 Senior Hurling: Wexford
2006 Junior Hurling: Fr. Toms
2006 Intermediate Football: Galway [Back to senior level football for Galway in 2007]

In the end there was no holding McAnespies as the took the

victory over the Shannon blues in SFC

Boston Gaa: Sunday August 13th 2006

Ladies senior football/Championship
Tir na N’og 2-05 Shamrocks 1-14

The ladies of the Boston Shamrocks GFC would again leave their mark as they grabbed the victory over Tir na nog.
Tir na nog were lucky to show two goals on the score card as they were both by chance, easy scores. The Shamrocks will await the outcome of next Sunday’s semi final game between Roscommon and Tir na nog to determine who they will meet in the final
.
Hard to call, but I would give the edge to Roscommon in the semi final based on their performance in their last game.


Men’s senior football/Championship
Donegal 1-17 Mayo 0-05
A sense of urgency was obvious in the opening minutes of the first of the men’s senior football games to be played on this day. Donegal had to take this victory to move to the semi finals, an early favorite for the title, Donegal suffered a crushing loss to the Shannon Blues a week earlier. Donegal put down their deposit for the semi-final early in this game against Mayo and had the contract in hand by the half, never to look back.
Donegal goes onto meet McAnespies, this will surely be one of the best games of the year, tight to the end possibly going to extra time, don’t miss this one!

Senior hurling/Championship

Wexford 4-20 Fr. Toms 3-15

Massive stuff! Wexford steps forward as the team to beat, an awesome show of pressure and results. Fr. Toms played their game, contact, hard hitting, they would show with scores early but lost momentum, often not seeming to have the answers for the skill of Wexford.
Although both teams were already through to the championship semi-finals before the sliothar dropped Sunday, this game decided who would sit a top of the pile.

Bring your safety glasses next Sunday as there will be bits of hurls flying as Wexford goes onto meet Tipp in the semi final. I would have to give Wexford the edge, unless Tipp can bring the team back together for the finals.

Men’s senior football/Championship

McAnespies 0-11 Blues 0-8

After coming off a victory against Donegal last week Shannon Blues would come into Sundays match against McAnespies with a chance to go onto the finals. A game that could have gone either way, it was a hard fought first half. Macs would open quickly in the second, pulling away from the Blues. But with every bit of heart that could be found on the GAA field the Blues would bring it back within check to level the scores, down to the wire it went. These are two teams that have some great supporters and did they ever spur on their respective team to the very end. In the end there would only be one victor, the Mac’s would find that sixth gear and pulled away from the Blues.

Shannon Blues now face the daunting reality that they might be bumped down to Intermediate football for next year. They will playoff against Cork; the victor stays in the senior championship the losses steps down.


Semi Final ScheduleSaturday August 19

Field A

1:15 - Jr A semi-final Donegal v Cork

2:30 - Jr A semi-final Wolfetones v McAnespies

3:45 - Jr Hurling Semi-final

4:00 - Ladies Jr Ft semi-final Roscommon v Shamrocks

5:30 - Int Football semi-final Kerry v St. Colmbkilles

Sunday August 20 Field A

12:00 LSF semi-final Roscommon v Tir na nog

1:15 Senior Hurling - semi-final Galway v Fr. Toms

2:30 Senior Football - semi-final Donegal v McAnespies

3:45 Senior Hurling - semi-final Tipperary v Wexford

5:30 Senior Football - semi-final Wolfetones v Gaels

Boston Gaa, Sunday August 6th 2006

Armagh ND Vs Cork SFC
An Armagh team that had it’s share of up and downs in the 2006 SFC [more downs that ups] would make good in their last championship game of the year. Down to Cork in the opening half of the game, Armagh would charge back to take the lead with goal by Mannion and go on to take the victory. Cork finds themselves needing to pull out all the stops or face relegation.

Cork 2:04 Armagh ND 1:10


Donegal Vs Shannon Blues SFC

Donegal could put this loss down to a four-week lay off, but for whatever reason this was not the same Donegal team that showed up in past outings.

Shannon Blues masterfully knocked Donegal out of the game before they got started. An early point from a free by Kevin Curran would put Donegal on the board first, but the Blues were well able to keep the northern boys at bay. Hard hitting on and off the ball would keep the New York based referee on the whistle, while offering up a few yellow cards along the way. The loss for Donegal leaves them in a must win game next Sunday against Mayo, to secure a place in the finals.

For the Blues, correct me if I wronf but if a series of events fall into place they could find themselves in the playoffs, stranger things have happened. If not they could face Cork in a relegation playoff game.

Shannon Blue 1:10 Donegal 0:11

Senior Hurling:

Tipp Vs Galway SHC

Again for the second time in two weeks Tipp would fall, for those of you not understanding the significance of this, you need to understand that this is a team that has not lost a game in nearly two years. Galway held the edge through the play, getting the ball past Kevin Jordon not once but twice…although in the end the victory by Galway was with a single point, Tipp were not themselfs. I say it now! get the B.S. resolved with Grady and fill the hole left in his absence. ”Coming together is a beginning.Keeping together is progress.Working together is success” by Henry Ford [and he's a boy would know].

Tipp 1:14 Galway 2:12

Schedule for Sunday August 12th
12:00 Intermeadit Football >>St Columbkilles V Kerry

1:15 LSHC >>Tir na nog V Shamrocks

2:30 SFC >>Donegal V Mayo

3:4 SHC >>Fr. Toms V Wexford

5:00 SFC >>McAnespies V Shannon Blues