Warwickshire Under 14’s are the pride of British GAA after being crowned All-Ireland Division 8 Feile Football Champions in Tinryland, Carlow on Sunday.
Following wins over Stratford-Grangecon, Drumlane and Palatine in the group stages, a 3-10 to 1-2 win over Coolkenno in the quarter-final, before a 3-4 to 1-3 victory over St. Dominics of Roscommon ensured Warwickshire advanced to the decider.
A lively Warwickshire outfit impressed throughout the final and finished with a 1-7 to 1-3 win over Drumlane of Cavan
Warwickshire led by 1-5 to 0-2 at half-time, with Declan Hayden netting their goal, within two minutes of his introduction.
Manager Noel McMenamin from the Sean McDermotts club was immensely proud of the displays over the course of the weekend. “Football wise we had a panel of 20 over in Ireland, and played six games including the final winning each one of them,” he said.
“The lads have done absolutely fantastic and have been great representatives of their clubs - Sean McDermotts, John Mitchels, St. Brendan's, and Roger Casements.
“It was great football and a great weekend. The lads are absolutely ecstatic now.”
Indeed Warwickshire’s hosts, Palatine also took Shield honours, and Noel was hugely thankful for the warm welcome received.
“The lads stayed with 10 different host families and we were all looked after extremely well. We couldn’t have asked for more."
Warwickshire were one of nine British GAA teams taking part in the All-Ireland Feile, which was hosted by Wexford, Carlow, and Wicklow over the weekend.
South London advanced to the Division 3 Cup semi-final, but lost to Ferbane by 5-4 to 1-2, while their North London counterparts were beaten by Ennistymon at the same stage in Division 4 by 2-3 to 1-3.
Gloucestershire were in hard luck in Division 8 of the Shield losing to Palatine by 2-6 to 2-5 in the semi-final, with Palatine beating Lancashire by 5-5 to 1-2 in the previous round.
In Division 9, Hertfordshire lost by 3-6 to 3-1 to eventual cup winners Killucan in the semi-final, while Scotland were on the wrong end of a 7-7 to 0-0 score-line against Derry Gaels in the Shield quarter-final.
Hertfordshire’s second team got to the Cup quarter-final of Division 10 losing to eventual finalists Danesfort of Kilkenny by 7-5 to 1-2.
Scotland were the lone UK side in Girls football action, where in Division 5 they claimed a win over Arklow Geraldines-Ballymoney, but lost to Ballysaggart, Newtown, Glyde Rangers, and Bray Emmets.
