Plenty of Limerick interest in USGAA national championships

THE 2023 USGAA National Finals take place in Denver, Colorado this weekend with plenty of Limerick involvement in the tournament.

A total of 120 teams will take part from clubs in Southern California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Mexico in the biggest event of the US GAA calendar.

Texas is one hotbed of GAA in the US with Limerick man Pat Doab's Celtic Cowboys sending over 70 players to the national championships.

Doab, from Croagh in Co Limerick, set the Cowboys up in 2004 as a soccer club initially, but that quickly developed into a hive of GAA activity. The club now compete in hurling, gaelic football, camogie and ladies football.

"Our first nationals were in 2007 in Chicago and back then if you lost, you were out,” said Doab of the Cowboys' initial involvement in the championships.

"Our game was at 8 o'clock and we were out of the championship by 9.30 but we were the best dressed team up there because we had all the gear and everything.

"It was still a great weekend and a big group of us watched the 2007 All-Ireland final between Limerick and Kilkenny on that Sunday morning. It was a lesson learned for us and we came back the following year and actually won the championship."

Doab and his Cowboys clan have been a haven for plenty of Irish wanderers ever since he touched down in Texas himself. The club have three Limerick lads playing for them at nationals this weekend.

Monaleen's John O'Dwyer and Darragh Bonfil, as well as former Old Christians and Patrickswell hurler Patrick Howard are all integral cogs in the Cowboys setup.

The complications that come with trying to organise GAA games in such heat are testing with Doab explaining that matches can only take place at certain times during the year due to the weather conditions.

"We have no games during the summer as it’s too hot. We are trying to play our games in March, April, May and it’s a big game until August and the championships. You aren’t really championship primed. 

"Over the last couple of years with the introduction of some of the Limerick lads, especially, our level has gone up. The boys did an International Rules game and we have been doing it since 2006/7 and it’s the only real thing that comes close in Austin as teams around Texas are all at different levels.

"It’s about providing that soft landing for anyone that comes through from Ireland or anywhere else. A lot of the players, especially on the ladies side, would be American.

"Not a lot of them would have grown up in Austin but they come here to try and find a group. It provides friendship. A sense of purpose and in some cases it helps find a job or helps them find a house or even partners."

There is other local interest across the state of Texas with two Limerickmen involved with Houston Gaels. Jack Banks, from Old Christians and Conall Broderick from St Patrick's.

Banks says that linking up with the club helped him settle in Houston quicker than expected. "The GAA has been integral for me here," Jack told Leader Sport.

"This move had been in the works for a while. I was over for a conference in December 2021. I flew down from Chicago to Houston to meet my boss for a day or two to look around the city.

"When I was in Houston for the couple of days, I got in touch with the club explaining that I was moving over to Houston and would love to find out a bit about them. They got back to me asking if I wanted to meet up and sold me on the club.

"When I did move over, my first week here I went out and trained. I wasn’t sure that I would even play GAA when I came over but after that first week I was hooked immediately.

"It was somebody in the club’s birthday on that first week and I was invited straight away. It’s so open to everyone. Within days, I had mates and they are great friends now. I don’t know how I would have moved here and settled so fast without the GAA."

Over 1,800 players are expected to take part in the three-day championship event in Denver over the weekend that begins today.

Teams are reduced from the usual 15-a-side to 13 and only three Irish natives can be on the field at any given time with all matches running at 30 minutes per half.