We were delighted to participate just last weekend in the Paris GAA Ladies European Football tournament. We thank Paris GAA for their excellent organisation. Though short of numbers our squad of 3 (Angela Buechler, Suzi Schwalb and Silvia Sanz) was inflated to 8 players, a true pan-European effort on the players behalf. We sincerely thank Laura Gérard (ex-Munich), Monica Duran (Barcelona), Emma Wood, Olga Lawlor (both Maastricht) and Odile Moutounet (Rennes) for coming to our rescue. It truely was an enjoyable and fun day as all the players can lay testimony to. Not to be content with just “turning up” our team of vagabonds started slowly in the first round defeat to Paris A and then began to raise the tempo after the first 10 minutes of “getting to know you”. It was for a brief but intense 5-minute period in the second half that our ladies realised their potential and scored a rapid 2 goals and 2 points without reply.

With confidence now restored, and new faith in one another, Munich defeated Belgium B in the second round game. With this win a semi-final spot was secured. After a brief rest-bite and relaxation in the intermittent sunshine, our ladies took on the mighty Belgium A. Munich battled bravely but fell short of the performance posted by their Belgium opponents.

The final game of the tournament, a 3rd and 4th place play-off was certainly most exciting. In a close and tense match the weary Munich team trailed by a single point with just moments remaining, only for the Holland team to secure a 4-point win with what turned out to be the last kick of the match.

In a consolation prize for the Munich team, Angie B. earned the female player of the tournament. Certainly a well-deserved accolade on the day.

Finally I must express my thanks one more time for the immense effort that all the ladies put in on the day. It was certainly an energy-sapping effort on behalf of our Munich representatives.

-Shane

München Colmcilles have yet again a slot for demonstrating hurling and football to the public at Halbergmoos at 2pm in the field behind the festival hall. All are welcome to join in on the fun and the kids will be displaying their hurling skills and using this slot as their training session. Green Farm festival is on this Saturday 10am – 2am and Sunday 10am to 8pm, and offers plenty of food, dance, drink and craic.

More details about Green Farm are under:
www.greenfarmfestival.moonfruit.com

(Deutsch Version nach unten)The Mens and Ladies teams are now training harder than ever. We are seeing some great turnouts for our Saturday training sessions at and would like to invite you to come along and either watch a training session or even part take.

Training starts at 12pm, and generally lasts 1.5-2 hours. It’s a mixed training session with the Mens and Ladies teams training along side each other. As we have a high number of beginners, we run through the basic skills of GAA in each session. Sessions are broken down into a number of 10-15 minute drills which focus on particular skills one at a time. As drills progress, the level of difficultly increases and pushes you mentally and physically more and more.

Gaelic football is a semi-contact sport, and offers a more “interesting & energetic” alternative to sports like soccer or rugby. The Gaelic football season runs during the summer months and is a great way to maintain your fitness in the down time of the soccer season.
Our next training takes place on Saturday 5th of June 2010 at 12pm.
(Thanks to Daniel for the translation help)

Deutsch

Die Damen- und Herrenteams trainieren nun härter als jemals zuvor. Das Training beginnt jeden Samtag um 12 Uhr und dauert in der Regel 1,5 – 2 Stunden. Es ist ein gemischtes Training der Damen- und Herrenteams. Da wir eine viele Anfängern in beiden Teams haben, trainieren wir die grundlegenden Fertigkeiten des GAA bei jedem Training. Jedes Training ist in 10- bis 15 Minuten Übungen untergeteilt, die sich auf die besonderen Anforderungen konzentrieren. Und wenn Sie teilnehmen möchten, würden wir uns freuen, wenn Sie es ausprobieren. Details zum Training finden Sie hier. Unser nächstes Training findet am Samstag, 5. Juni 2010 um 12 Uhr statt.

Two lady Colmcilles’ kick-started the season by travelling last weekend to Holland to represent the team and club. Angela Buechler and Lauren McLaughlin played in the Den Haag Invitation Gaelic football tournament on March 13th as well as took part in their St. Patrick´s day festivities. They supported and joined the Holland ladies team during the tournament and played 3 matches against 2 visiting Irish teams and the ladies team from Brussels. As a friendly tournament, it was a good opportunity to get to know the other teams in a more non-competitive environment. Due to the fact the ladies have not been in training, it was a bit of a fitness challenge for both. However, and fortunately, the only managed to come back to Munich with one black eye and a few sore muscles.

They would like to say thank you to the Hague GAA club for hosting such a well organized and entertaining tournament and for allowing them to participate in the event. Also, a special thanks to the Holland ladies for letting Lauren and Angie join their team…and for being so kind to their enemies.
After a long, cold and snowy winter, the Munich Colmcilles spirit has been rekindled and now we are ready for the 1st training session on March 27th at 10a.m. Let the season begin!!

The colmcilles will be marching again this year in the St. Patricks Day Parade.

For those marching (or involved in security) the meeting point is 14:00 at Münchener Freiheit, or Felitzstrasse to be exact!

The parade then sets off at 14:30 towards Odeonsplatz.

for those not paying attention, there are NO beerstands this year, but most irish pubs will have live music afterwards and also Max+Moritz Club on Maximillianstrasse near Odeonsplatz will be transformed into a sea of green for the afternooon.

Introduction to Gaelic Football Training session:

• Saturday 27 March 2010, 10am{NEW TIME}
• Location: Gartenstadt

Come along to this introductory training session and learn all the basics of how to play Gaelic football. One of our trainers will explain and take you through all of the basic skills needed to play the sport.

Afterwards, come and have lunch with the rest of the team in the clubhouse.

For more information, please contact us.

Ladies Start of season players’ meeting:

This will be held on 9 March 2010 in a pub/restaurant somewhere central in Munich. The venue will depend on numbers and is yet to be decided. This will be a great opportunity for new players who may be interested in joining the club to find more out about the sport. For current members, it will be a great opportunity to catch up with the rest of the team since last season, and work out everyone’s availability for the coming season.

Please confirm attendance to contact us here.

update : The players meeting will be held at Killians at 7pm on Tuesday 9th March. We have reserved the tables at the back, away from the bar etc.

Our mother club, Gartenstadt SVG, are holding their Christmas party on the 12.12.2009, and would like to invite Munich Colmcilles members down.

1. Date : 12/12/2009
2. Time : 18:00
3. Location : SV Gartenstadt Trudering Heinrich-Wieland-Straße 102 81735 München
4. Poster to download

Image by Nicolai Kjærgaard’s

Some great news from the GAA & RTE, is that they are embracing technology a little and they will be streaming the conference live on the web. The GAA Games Development Conference, entitled “Optimising Playing Performance – Nurturing a culture of Skill and Will” – will take place on Friday November 20th and Saturday November 21st, in Croke Park. The conference will be viewable on the Internet live on the Saturday (21/11/2009) at www.rte.ie/gaa . They promise that the live stream will be available to all countries !