A robust fall league of hurling and football is underway, with a few matches completed and more to come! It’s not to0 late to join the action, but you need to contact league coordinator Mia Jafari (miajafari@yahoo.com).
Here’s a recap of the first matches:
Week 1 Hurling.
Raleigh Green( 24) v. House Red (12)
With a strong showing from green team’s roster, they were able to win the first match up of the newly dubbed Triangle Gaelic Sports Pub(lic) League. Green team is composed of Sean Higgins and Chris Cox who make the drive to Raleigh from their respective parts of North Carolina and were essential to Green Team’s victory. Enda, Joe and Justin are seasoned members of the Raleigh GAA brought experience on the defensive side. The lone female on the pitch this week was Mia Jafari, hoping for fellow ladies to come join in the upcoming weeks. The House team was made up of UNC players, Shane, Sandra, and Steve Shannon and two new comers from Milwaukee’s Hurling Club. Rebecca and Jerry were welcomed additions and we are excited to see them on the pitch in the future. In the first half Red fell behind early, but with the transition of Shane from full back to midfield in the second half they were able to put points on the board. Jerry stellar goal keeping make goals hard, and Green had to start taking their opportunity at points. Overall it was a great match up between Green and Red.
Raleigh White (15) – UNC Blue (5)
The second game of the afternoon had many if not all of the same players on the field once again. However, alliances were switched. Sean Higgins traded the Green for Blue and played with the UNC team. There are a couple veterans on the UNC team that have triple duties, Samuel Haddad and Ciaran. These two organize, coach and play, bringing up and working with the mostly new players that make up the UNC roster. Raleigh white players took a more prominent role in this game, Shane, Nick Holmes, Steve Shannon, Larre Reeves and Ed Quinn coming out for their first game. White team started to score, and score often. Steven Shannon, Chris Cox, and Ed were relentless as they peppered the offensive side with goal and point opportunities. UNC however kept fight until the end, finishing the match with a goal that brought the game to a 10 point differential. Credit to John McNeilly who played where we asked and officiated half of the last game and to Enda who officiated the second half. Aoife was the official score keeper and timer for this week.
Week 2 Football
Raleigh Green (11) v House Red (8)
Similar to the first week UNC made up most of the House team with addition of Steve Shannon. Green team did field a large contingency this week, the team made up of Chris Cox, Aoife, Mia Jafari, Joe Nett, Enda Wiseman, Zack Lord and Stacey Shields. We luckily had white team to come to our aid and provide some subs against the younger red team. Raleigh green created some space in the scoring as Mia Jafari and Stacey Shields provided 4 of the 8 points in the first game. However Red kept the pressure on as some soccer transfers used their fancy footwork and speed to gain position and score a couple goals. It will be an interesting season to see where these teams end up with a couple weeks of fine tuning their skills.
Raleigh White v UNC Blue
We played a shorten game as Raleigh white’s showing this past week was a little slim. Diehards Steven Shannon, Nick Holmes, Sarah Mills, Andy and Larre Reeves all made a good showing. In lieu of a Raleigh v UNC match we split the teams and played a short 20 minute game to work on skills and game play. The match was tight and at the end of the day Team 1 (7) v Team 2 (3). UNC will get the victory this week for bring a full team and a strong first game against the Raleigh Green. Luckily we have 2 weeks of football left to keep the standard interesting. Steven Shannon finished the day officiating the games. Thank you for everyone that came out for this second weekend!
Here’s a brief schedule of upcoming league matches:
