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Page 16 - O'Neills Blog
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In the GAA | January 22, 2018GAA in Cambodia?? …Yes, you heard that right! One of the newest GAA clubs established in Asia is Cairde Khmer in Cambodia. More than ever the GAA overseas clubs provide a focal point for the Irish Abroad. And as with other international GAA clubs, the key to Cairde Khmer is the integration of local players and those from other countries. SO, in addition to Gaels from home, the Cambodian lads and lasses are drawing on players from England, America, Japan, Canada, France, Sweden, and Cambodia to take part in this beautiful game.
Gaelic games are well and truly alive and growing in popularity with new clubs springing to life in many major cities across the globe. With the introduction of the GAA World Games in 2015 and the growing network of International tournaments across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australasia, this certainly has played its part in bringing the games to life outside of Ireland.
We caught up with Cairde Khmer to get the lowdown on the club and learned
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In the Zone | In the GAA | December 18, 2017The GAA across North America has never been stronger with powerhouses in football in the major cities, and hurling as a sport also developing across Canada and the United States. The O’Neills jersey is a familiar sight among Irish communities and awareness is also growing among homegrown players who have less of a connection with Ireland.
Here are nine clubs and associations blazing a trail…
New York GAA
Given the huge Irish connection in New York, Gaelic Games have always been an attraction and generations of students headed Stateside for the promise of some dollars, a job on a site and a weekend playing ball.Â
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Did you know? New York GAA made history in 1947 when the All-Ireland football final was played at the famous Polo Grounds featuring Cavan and Kerry.
NYPD GFC
In 1990 the NYPD Gaelic Football club was reformed after a sixteen year gap. The team now plays its games in Gaelic Park. Since the loss of 23 NYPD officers in 9-11, the NYPD jerseys proudly carry the 9-11 emblem as well
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In the Gift Bag | November 22, 2017Can 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 SocksAll 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 GloveÂ
A really good hurling glove offers protection to the fingers and importantly is comfortable to wear.
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4 Gaelic gloves
You can never have enough gloves part of the old kitbag essentials.Â
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5 Hurling Grips
New hurl. New griptape. Old hurl new grip. Again handy to have
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In the Gift Bag | November 22, 2017No 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
Coming into the pre season, a thoughtful relative over the Festive season can sort out the gloves situation. Always need at least one pair in the kit bag.
4 Half Zip
From the club half zip, to a new county number to one from our range of women’s gym wear, again an item that a girl can’t get enough
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In the GAA | October 27, 2017How many jerseys can a player wear? Good question.
The Dual Player. Very much in danger of becoming extinct, just like the dodo. However, the dodo didn’t have to play two codes for multiple different teams, and represent club, county, and province. And latterly the country too in the International Rules.
It’s hard to pick out many real dual players in the modern era at county level. It’s practically impossible to serve two sports let alone two managers with the demands on players.
In the past there were many legendary figures that soldiered for their county in two codes, Teddy McCarthy a dual All Ireland winner in the same year with Cork, Alan Kerins, Jimmy Barry Murphy, Liam Currams. Some like DJ Carey represented their county in three codes, DJ excelled also at handball and brought the skills to his hurling.
With the growing pressure on players and the increasing professionalization of GAA player preparation, sports science and heightened fitness it has become hard, and in truth impossible
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In the GAA | September 25, 2017Croke Park had it all yesterday. Marriage proposals, last minute penalties, cards, tears of joy and despair. Once again the captain receiving the Cup on the Hogan Steps was wearing the Dublin jersey. What a week in sport for the County. Full credit to the six teams involved for the superb entertainment, passion and skill they brought to a warm and sunny Croke Park.
The success of the Ladies All Ireland Final raises the question, is Ireland one of the leading countries for women’s sport? And it also has some lessons for other codes.
The attendance at yesterday’s ladies finals was 42,286, making it the highest attendance for any single women’s sports event this year. There are lessons in the way that the LGFA promote their games. The championship is tiered and with every team starting out with the opportunity to get to Croke Park on finals day.
Six different teams have contested the Intermediate final over the last three years and five the junior final. This churn suggests the game is in
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In the GAA | September 21, 2017There’s nothing like a bit of Samba. If Gaelic football ever takes off in Brazil, we might have one person to thank. Amy Challoner is originally from Ireland and now lives in Hong Kong where she is involved with the GAA playing and coaching our games.
This summer, Amy visited Sao Paulo, Brazil, as part of a volunteer sports coaching project through an organization in Brazil called ACER. There, she coached Gaelic football to underprivileged children aged 7 - 15 from the surrounding areas.
Ahead of the trip, Amy got in touch with our export team at O’Neills to ask if we could provide some O’Neills children’s sized footballs to teach the children all about GAA.
Here at O’Neills we are huge supporters of the development of GAA abroad and particularly seeing the impact it can have on such an underprivileged area. The thought of a group of Brazilian children taking up the game and showing off their legendary skills with the famous O’Neills football caught our imagination.
So, to help Amy on her
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In the Rugby | August 18, 2017Rugby League Ireland will run out in Barlow Park, Cairns for their first Rugby League World Cup match wearing their new jersey designed by O’Neills. The World Cup kicks off in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea in late October and Ireland have three group games with a real chance of qualifying for the Quarter finals stage.
Rugby League Ireland fly out to the Southern Hemisphere towards the end of October to take part in the Rugby League World Cup which is being staged in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
Head Coach Mark Aston is putting together the final touches of his squad. Rugby League Ireland have high hopes of making it through the initial group games and through to the latter stages of the competition. If they can achieve that it would be a massive boost for the game here.
Aston expressed his delight at the new kit arrangement with O’Neills: “Once Rugby League Ireland were made aware of O’Neill’s International Sportswear’s interest it was an easy decision for
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In the GAA | August 15, 2017With the growth of the GAA across every continent, the sight of an O’Neills jersey and our famous O’Neills All Ireland football in more and more exotic and unusual locations worldwide is increasingly common. The fact is that Irish people living overseas export their love of all things GAA to their host communities, and this spreads the gospel of Gaelic Games into all sorts of new environments.
Kerry Mortimer is Chairperson of the Ottawa Gaels Gaelic Football Club based in Canada's capital and she’s involved in Project North, a non-for-profit with a focus on improving literacy skills and providing recreational opportunities to Inuit children in remote Northern Canadian communities.
O’Neills Balls
Kerry’s expedition was delivering hockey equipment to seven arctic communities in three days, and being a passionate Gael with a love for Gaelic football, she brought some O’Neills balls with her to introduce the children she met to the Irish game.
She carried a few O’Neills balls up to the Arctic