The Gaelic footballers of Amsterdam are coming back home.
In what will be a first for the All-Ireland club championships, Amsterdam GAC will play against the Dublin champions in the first round of the Leinster Junior club championship this year.
Never before has a rest of Europe team come over to Ireland to compete in the club championships official, but just like county champions, the European champions were given an opportunity to go forward into the provincial competitions this year.
And the lads are buzzing for the trip to Ireland.
“We are bringing a panel of about 30 back to play in Dublin, the opportunity to play at home in front of family and friends has been a great incentive for everyone to travel. We are a player run and funded club so it is great to see so many players willing to dig into their pockets to pay for this trip,” said club chairman John Murphy to SportsJOE.
They won’t be coming all the way over here to make up the numbers though. These lads have been travelling three-hour round-trips to training, they’ve been building for this one.
“The lads have shown massive commitment to the club to travel up to 90 mins each way for training sessions over the last few months,” he added.
The team is made up mostly of expats with a grá for the game, but there’s also one Dutch player involved and an Englishman. The club don’t have a pitch themselves, but they’ve been digging into their own pockets to hire a local sports complex.
All roads lead to Dublin for the first round of the Leinster JFC now.
Amsterdam GAC is what’s keeping these lads going across the water, and their players are delighted to be involved in the big provincial competitions, back in front of their people.
“I read an article recently were the GAA was described ‘as the lifeblood of the whole of Ireland’. Having played for Amsterdam GAC for 2 years I can safely say it’s the lifeblood for Irish all over the world,” said Armagh player Conor Loughran.
“For a European player to play in Ireland is very special and to play on Irish soil in the Leinster championship is something I could only dream about,” said Darren Corcoran of Westmeath.
That’s what it means.
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