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| Fri. 3rd - Sun. 5th September 2004 |
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Review of the 2004 North American Finalsby Eamon Kelly, PRO North American County Board
At the North American County Board convention in November 2002, the Denver Gaels, a small junior football club in Colorado, won approval to to undertake the enormous task of staging the 2004 NACB playoffs. Despite some early apprehension within the association, this years tournament was a tremendous success. The club's special playoff committee are to be applauded for the top class handling of this huge event. Organizing a sporting event of this magnitude requires an enormous amount of organizational unity. After eighteen months of planning, dedication and lots of hard work, this enterprising club rose magnificently to the challenge. They left no stone unturned in attending to every little detail to ensure a successful tournament. No doubt, a major contribution to the success of the games was the playing facilities at the Pleasant View soccer grounds at the foot of the scenic Rocky Mountains on the outskirts of Boulder. The players in particular were loud in their praise of the superb quality of the surface of all six playing fields which benefited from the full time attention of the facilities professional staff. This years tournament was the biggest ever staged since the present multi-championships playoff structure was inaugurated in 1982. Fifty eight adult teams representing seventeen cities competed in forty six games in an effort to bring home a national championship. In addition, up to thirty youth games were played in various under age championships from under-10 to under-18 over the Labor Day holiday weekend. The creation of four new championships, men's junior "D" football, junior "C" hurling, ladies junior "B" football and junior "B" camogie contributed to the biggest playing schedule in the history of the national playoffs. Great credit is due to the San Francisco Western division for providing second teams for several championships to avoid the need for bye's at the semifinal stage. In total the division had fifteen teams competing in the playoffs. Nine cities shared the spoils with Boston taking six of the sixteen trophies up for contention. Chicago and San Diego captured two titles while Charlotte, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington all captured one trophy. The tournament also created several records for the history books. For the first time ever the same club, Boston Fr. Tom Burke's, won the senior and junior hurling championship double for the second consecutive year. Another first was the Brian Boru club winning a hurling championship for the city of Philadelphia. Also an achievement of note was the capturing of the senior and junior "A" football championship double by Chicago St. Brendan's. History was also created with the following teams winning the new championships in their inaugural year: Charlotte James Connolly (men's junior "D" football), St. Louis Reds (junior "C" hurling), San Diego Na Fianna (ladies junior "B" football), Milwaukee Clash (junior "B" camogie). Congratulation are also in order for the Washington DC Gaels who brought the first camogie cup to the capital city. Also to first time NACB winners Charlotte and St. Louis. Of the twelve titles up for retention only five teams recaptured their trophies. In addition to Boston Fr. Tom's retaining the senior and junior hurling cups and Chicago St. Brendan's retaining the junior "A" football crown, Boston Tír na NÓg, ladies Junior football (now "A"), and Boston Eire Og retained the senior camogie title. Boston New England Celtics won their second consecutive men's junior "C" football championship and will now move up to the junior "B" competition next year. While the additional competitions generated much excitement and spectator interest there were several one-sided and some substandard games during the course of the tournament. However, overall the standard of hurling and football in most grades was of a high caliber. The senior Championships in both codes were well worth watching. The senior football championship was highly competitive with Chicago St. Brendan's the strongest contender and deserving winners of the competition. They held off a strong challenge from Boston champions Donegal in an excellent semifinal clash to win by four points. In the final they were able to overcome a late rally by San Francisco's Son of Boru to win by six points. The senior hurling championship wasn't as competitive as the football with Fr. Tom's being the far superior team. After a lopsided win over Na Fianna from San Francisco in the semifinal they overcame the challenge from Chicago Cuchulainn in the final and emerged with an easy 11 point win. There were several close and exciting games in all of the other competitions with one game, Washington DC Gaels and Milwaukee Clash going to double overtime in the junior camogie final. One period of overtime was required in the men's junior "B" football semifinal between San Diego Setanta and Cleveland St. Jarlath's and also in the ladies junior "A" football final between San Francisco Clan na Gael and Boston Tír na NÓg. The youth tournament under the direction of NACB Youth officer Mike O'Connor was also a tremendous success with Boston teams taking seven of the ten competitions. Philadelphia took two titles including the minor under 18 championship while the Denver youth club brought the first NACB championship to the host city by winning the under-12 "B" championship. While the playoffs were an organization success there was a little disappointment with a few fixtures not being fulfilled. The non appearance of the Orange County Roisín ladies footballers and the Kansas City men's junior football team resulted in the cancellation of two games. Most disappointing was the cancellation of the men's junior "A" football final when Boston Wolfe Tones's gave a walk over to Chicago St. Brendan's rather than not play some players who's registration documents were not in order according to NACB rules. The most unfortunate situation was that of Florida St. Pat's who could not play their men's junior "B" game against the Pittsburgh Celtics as half of their team were stranded in Florida due to the hurricane. The curtain came down on this great event with a dinner held at the Boulder Millennium Hotel. Guest speaker from Ireland was GAA President, Sean Kelly. Also in attendance were Munster Council officers Sean Fogarty and Christy Cooney, Leinster Council Chairman Nickey Brennan, Director of camogie Sheila Wallace and Director of ladies football Helen O'Rourke. The following referees from Ireland were in attendance: Johnny McDonnell (Tipperary), Brian Crowe (Cavan), Mary Jane Foy (Monaghan), Eamonn Brown (Tipperary). Next years playoffs are scheduled for Philadelphia. Following is a complete list of the championship winners and the results of all the games:
2004 Championship Winners
2004 North American Finals Results
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