Monthly Archives: October 2016

  1. Live Life Like Lisa Orsi

    Live Life Like Lisa Orsi

    This Saturday, October 29, a group of fifty Gaelic footballers, hurlers and camogs representing GAA clubs from Derry and Donegal, as well as a local youth training organisation will set off for China and the Asian Gaelic Games.

    They are travelling as part of the Live Life Lisa Foundation to celebrate the life of 22-year-old Lisa Orsi, the young Singapore Lions player, who died in March 2015.

    Lisa Orsi passed away in March 2015 after suffering extreme high altitude sickness on a volcano trek in Indonesia. Lisa was a physio working in Singapore, and originally a player with the Ardmore GAA club in Derry, she played football for the Singapore Lions club and had been part of the Asian Championship winning team in 2014. The Cup was renamed in her memory.

    Following her untimely death, her organs were harvested and donated to help save the lives of others. Her father Dennis paid tribute to his daughter at the time saying: “Lisa was extremely fit. She enjoyed her nights

  2. Around the Globe With the GAA

    Around the Globe With the GAA

    More than ever the GAA is going  global. With the growth of the World Games and new clubs popping up wherever two or three Gaels are gathered, the Association has never been stronger outside Ireland, offering a home from home for Irish abroad and new sporting opportunities for the communities where they find themselves. And, wherever the GAA is, O’Neills are, proud to be associated with new and established clubs worldwide. Here we present a focus on five of our partners worldwide.

    Connemara Gaels

    Connemara Gaels has long been one of the first posts of call for the Irish emigrant landing in Boston. Given the name of the club and its history it has a particular resonance for folk of Galway and Mayo stock. Founded in 1961 the

  3. Anthony Foley: A Warrior's Passing

    Anthony Foley: A Warrior's Passing

    “Then his warriors laid him in the middle of it,

    Mourning a lord far-famed and beloved...

    ...They were disconsolate 

    And wailed aloud for their lord's decease”.

    From The Funeral of Beowulf, Seamus Heaney

    Voices cracking with emotion, former teammates and opponents paid tribute to their fallen comrade Anthony Foley. 

    Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer, Will Greenwood, Martyn Williams, on-field friends and foes respectively talking of this stellar rugby human being. Brave, fearless, intelligent and humble.

    The heartrending posts from men who soldiered in the fields of France, in England, Scotland and in the cathedrals of Irish sport, in Croke Park, Lansdowne Road and his spiritual home, Thomond Park. 

    Most of all, thoughts go out to Anthony's wife Olive and their two young sons, Tony and Dan. His dad Brendan and mum Sheila, and his sisters Rosie and Orla.

    One

  4. Tough Love. The Club Championship

    Tough Love. The Club Championship

    It all starts with the Club. And ends with the Club. So we are told. This week the Dublin GAA players didn’t have long to digest their two in a row success before its back to basics. Likewise the gallant Mayo GAA men don’t have time to wallow in defeat, they return to the warm embrace of their club and the championship.

    Training Under Lights

    You know you’re doing something right if your club training is still going strong into the fading Autumn evening and the floodlights are switched on. There’s something about that pool of yellow light, looks like success.

    The Food Rota

    In some clubs the grub’s laid on year round for the players. In some clubs, but in most outfits when success arrives it comes in the

  5. Final Thoughts

    Final Thoughts

    One thing the GAA is never short on is opinions. There have been many expressed this week.  Mayo will want to hear none of them. Dublin probably can’t get enough.

     

    The Bench

    Dublin bench is formidable. In the first game it was Paddy Andrews. This time Cormac Costello. When a team can afford to leave players of the calibre of Bernard Brogan and Michael Darragh McAuley on the bench it tells you something. In fact the Dublin bench alone if added to another county would probably turn them into All Ireland contenders. It says a lot about the Dublin GAA panel and Jim Gavin's leadership that he can maintain such an obvious sense of team with so many quality players to keep satisfied. And it's not just the substitutions. To have a panel of players of similar quality is the envy of everyone. We've hardly seen Cormac Costello all