February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
In the women’s competition, Australasia, a team comprising players from Australia and New Zealand, retained the title by defeating London.
The biannual international tournament, which made its debut in 1994, is staged by the GAA’s International Dimension Committee. The Canada, Europe, London, North America and Rest of Britain County Boards participated in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, while Australasia competed in the women’s competition and Scotland in the men’s competition. The New York board did not compete in either competition.
All games, 36 in total, were hosted by the Naomh Mearnog club in the North Dublin seaside village of Portmarnock. The 20-minute a-side games were played on a five-round league basis with the top four qualifying for the semifinals and final playoffs.
The North American men’s team, despite the absence of players who were unable to travel, overcame early-round glitches to develop into a fast cohesive squad that led to their retention of the Clifford Cup. No doubt, an exhibition game with the famous St. Vincent’s club on the Sunday prior to the commencement of the tournament provided an opportunity for the NACB team to play together for the first time.
While the NACB team didn’t quite match the perfect record of the 2000 champions, they only lost one game, a third-round 2-point defeat to an excellent London team. They also experienced tough opposition from Rest of Briton and Canada on their road to the final.
North America struggled against Rest of Briton in the opening round and after trailing in the early stages of the game they lead at halftime 2-4 to 1-2. Their scores came from Rory Mone (1-2), Richie Fleming (1-0), Manus Murray (0-1) and Paul Baily (0-1).
In an evenly contested second half, the NAB didn’t relinquish their lead and held on to win, 2-9 to 2-3. The scorers were Mone (0-3), Murray (0-1) and David Fogarty (0-1).
North America had little difficulty in the second round, easily defeating Europe 2-20 to 0-0. However, their third-round match with London proved to be one of the best matches of the tournament with both defensive units outstanding in a most competitive game.
In a low-scoring opening half North America trailed by a single point at the interval, 0-3 to 0-2, their points coming from Rory Mone and Colm Brazil. In a rip-roaring second half, North America took control and led by 2 points going into the final quarter with points from Murray and Brazil but London finished with four consecutive points to earn a deserving 2-point victory.
Canada, playing fast, open football provided tough opposition to the NAB team in the fourth round.
With fine defensive work they contained the North America team to 5 points in the opening half and trailed by just 3 points at the interval, 0-2 to 0-5. North American scorers were Brazil (0-3), Fleming (0-2).
Canada pulled to within 2 points of North America in the final quarter but late goals by Liam Reidy and David Fogarty sealed victory for North America. They clinched second place in the league with an easy 3-10 to 0-6 over Scotland in the final round to qualify for another match with Canada in the semifinal.
The second clash between the Americans and Canada was a one-sided affair and the game over as a contest by halftime with North America leading by 3-5, 0-0. Canada fared better in the second half, outscoring their opponents 3-1 to 0-7, but North America ended up easy winners with a final score of 3-12 to 3-1 to reach the final.
London qualified to be North America’s opponent in the final following a semifinal victory over Rest of Briton, which set the stage for a repeat of that great final between the two counties in 2000.
The final lived up to its expectations. London, the better team in the opening half, seemed destined to avenge their defeat of two years ago. They controlled center field, which led to one-way traffic for most of the half. They opened a 4-point lead after converting a penalty in the 18th minute and added three more points to make the halftime score London 1-6, North America 0-3.
London continued to dominate on the turnover and raced into an 8-point lead by the end of the third quarter. But North America made a remarkable recovery. After Paul Brady goaled in the 48th minute to reduce the gap to 5 points, North America outscored London 8-1 in the final 10 minutes to retain the cup, 1-13 to 2-8.
The women’s football tournament was far less competitive than the men’s competition as the Australasia squad where in a different class to the rest of the league and won most of their games by big margins, including their final game against London. North America had to field an understrength squad as several players on their original panel were deemed ineligible to compete in the tournament and didn’t travel.