Monthly Archives: November 2017

No doubt, Ladies Footballers are among #TheToughest for sure. For a Cúl Yule for the wannabe Cora in your house, here’s some ladies football classics.

1 The Jersey

We have some Cúl Yule gear on stock ranging from the Mayo Jersey for wannabe Cora’s to the tidy number worn by Dublin All Ireland champions like Sinéad Aherne & co. County Jerseys.

2 Gaelic Balls

Often overlooked as a present for the Gaelic gals but ranging from a full on O’Neills All Ireland ball to three or four Inter County Trainers, it means you have enough balls to work on the old skills and firepower. Dublin coach Mick Bohan is a great advocate of using two balls at once to train both feet in half the time.

3 Gaelic Gloves

Can be tricky enough trying to find a few stocking fillers for the younger brother, son or godson et cetera. You might not want to go the whole hog and splash out on a spanking new GAA jersey. So here's some quickfire ideas to get this item of your shopping list and into the stocking.

1 Midi Socks

All the rage with players of all ages, the Midi sock comes in a range of colours. Provides foot and ankle support and about more freedom than the traditional sock. All the young lads want them. Fact.

2. Inter-county trainer ball

Excellent training ball that is the correct weight and size. Plenty of coaches use these on the training pitch so a good idea for a young Gael. Get them out of the house on Christmas day.

3 Hurling Glove

Fresh from pulling on the Irish jersey in the two game International Rules series, player after player has called for the series to continue.

After an enthralling International Rules series there’s certainly plenty of enthusiasm among the players for continuing the games here and Down Under. The AFL are actively targeting a match in the East Coast of the US next time around, a move that would clearly appeal to the Irish American audience and the huge numbers of expats from both countries. GAA director general Paraic Duffy indicated that he is visiting the US in the coming weeks and would take the opportunity to review the stadia available.

Five things to take away from the Series:

Those Aussies Can play Ball

The perception, wrongly over the years has been of the Australians as larger than life lumbering

20.11.2017

Two teams comprising the country’s top Camogie stars will jet out to Madrid next week as Camogie goes ‘On Tour’ to the Spanish capital for the inaugural Liberty Insurance Camogie All-Stars Tour.

Recipients of All-Stars Awards from 2016 and 2017 as well as several nominees will take off for Madrid on Wednesday November 29th where they will play an exhibition match in Universidad Complutense de Madrid on Thursday November 30th.

The teams will include stars from 8 counties including Cork’s Aoife Murray, Dublin’s Aisling Maher and Galway’s Rebecca Hennelly who were all in attendance at today’s launch in Croke Park. Murray collected an incredible 7th All-Stars Award this year whilst Dublin’s Maher collected her very first award after a summer to remember for the Dubs. Hennelly will

Our Man in Oz with the International Rules team is Cormac Farrell. Cormac has been accompanying the players on their travels Down under as they’ve taken in the sights and sounds of Adelaide, met the local Irish expat community and attended a reception in the O’Neills Australia HQ hosted by our Australia Sales Manager, Antoinette Brophy. After a few days R&R the players arrived in Perth to prepare for the second Test at the Subiaco. They also took time out to visit the Famine and Immigration memorial recently unveiled by Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins during his State visit.

Here are some extracts from Cormac’s Tour Diary.

Tuesday

The official Ireland International Rules party touched down in Melbourne around 7.30pm after a brief stop off in Abu Dhabi. After 20 hours of flying, safe to say there

The International Rules Series returns on 12 November, with Australia to host Ireland in a two-Test series in November. It will be the first time since 2013 that the series will feature two Tests. For GAA players pulling on that Ireland International Rules jersey is one of the highlights of their career. Here’s the lowdown from O’Neills.

When and Where

The open game takes place at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday 12 November, 6am kick-off Irish time, with the second clash pencilled in for the following Saturday in Perth venue, 8.45am kick-off Irish time.

Was It Played Last year?

No. After a one-year hiatus and following single-Test series in 2014 and 2015, the AFL and GAA did not play in 2016 but the series returns for 2017.

Who Won Last Time?

Ireland hold the Cormac McAnallen Trophy after defeating

“Respected and well worn.” Proud sentiments for any jersey, in this case the new Kerry GAA jersey launched this week. Says it all.

These were the words of Paul Galvin, former Kerry captain and design partner with O’Neills on the new Kingdom jersey. Having been asked to contribute to the concept and design of the jersey Paul described his inspiration, the  iconic Kerry ’85 jersey. The latest version offers a return to the strong & bold, green and gold of that shirt, worn on the Hogan Steps as he lifted Sam by none other than Kerry legend, the late & great Paidí Ó Sé.

We have chosen the phrase Back to Gold for the jersey. A return to the golden era of Kerry football, to inspire and encourage a new generation

Pulling on the Ireland International Rules jersey is the pinnacle of a GAA player’s career. It is an honour for All Ireland winners and representatives of smaller counties to compete for their Country for the Cormac McAnallen Cup. It has been the same since the series started back in 1984. One of the positives has been the way the series shine a light on the players from so called weaker counties. International Rules stars like Leighton Glynn, Sean Marty Lockhart have rubbed shoulders with All Ireland winners.

The Compromise Rules Days

The International Rules started life back in 1984 coinciding with the GAA’s Centenary year.  It was known then as Compromise Rules which was a cute name given how uncompromising some of the on pitch antics became. The Men pulling the