Galway players at the heart of exiles' bid to floor Kerry champions

Keith Kelly

When the county’s club football champions, Salthill/Knocknacarra, were sent crashing out of this year’s Connacht championship at the semi-final stage by St Brigid’s of Roscommon, that looked like the curtain coming down on Galway involvement in this year’s race for the All-Ireland Club football title.

That’s not the case, however, as a group of Galway players living in London are just two games away from an appearance in the blue riband of club football, the All-Ireland final in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day.

Tir Chonaill Gaels, which is based in Greenford in the north-west of London, will host Kerry and Munster champions Dr Crokes of Killarney in Ruislip on Sunday in the All-Ireland Club quarter-final, and leading the charge are two men from Maree, and one each from Oranmore, Renvyle and Salthill/Knocknacarra.

The captain of the London side is Mark Gottsche from Oranmore, and he is joined on the panel by John McGrath and Coleman Hands from Maree, Eoin O’Neill from Renvyle and Austin Concannon from Salthill/Knocknacarra.

Mark, who works as the Games and Logistics Manager with the London County Board, admits that the odds are stacked against the Exiles,but says his side have put in the hard work ahead of the game, and says that anything can happen on the day.

“I played with London against Mayo in the Connacht championship last year [2011] and we gave them an almighty fright, they only beat us after extra time. They scored two late points to draw the game, and then beat us by three points in the end, but I doubt many people thought we would get close to them, never mind coming so close to beating them.

“Maybe in the past, teams might have come over to London and looked at it as a weekend away, but not any more, not after that game. Dr Crokes certainly won’t come over expecting anything easy, as two of their lads played here last year before returning home to Killarney, so they’ll have the rest of the side well warned for the game,” Mark said.

Given the name of the club, it is no surprise to learn that it has its roots in the north-west of Ireland – it was initially established as a club for Donegal emigrants, and the panel today is still heavily reliant on Ulster players.

In the team that started their last game, Mark says eight were from Ulster counties – Donegal (3), Down (2), Armagh (1), Derry (1) and Fermanagh (1), but there is a fair smattering of other counties represented in the side as well, with players from Galway, Sligo, Mayo, Laois, Meath and Cork all featuring on the panel.

“It was initially a Donegal club when it was set up 50 years ago, but it has opened up in recent years and now serves the both-west of London, and we get great support.

“We are hopefully looking at a crowd of about 1,500 for Sunday’s game – the London game against Mayo in Ruislip attracted a crowd of 4,500, and the fact you have the likes of Colm Cooper coming over this weekend will help attract a crowd,” Mark says.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.