Monthly Archives:
August 2012
att-7476″>
There's gonna be a lot of this in September.
September is the month that makes March seem like a breeze. There are so many festivals you could spend the entire month just eating dogs and burgers. I mean, when you’re not eating fish and chips or haggis.
Let’s just start with this weekend, shall we?
The games are underway in Pennypack Riverview Park on State Road in Philly—the North American Gaelic Athletic Association Championships, which will draw the best amateur Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie teams from all over North America to our backyard. If you’ve never see Gaelic games, this is your chance to see some talented athletes make American sports look like a kids’ tea party.
On Sunday, the first of September’s festivals, the fourth annual Brittingham’s Irish Festival at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill. Bring a lawn chair and listen—and dance—to the music of The Paul Moore Band, Jamison, No Irish Need Apply (the 2012 International Mary from Dungloe, Meghan Davis, is the lovely singer and keyboard player for this group), and Seamus McGroary.
Well, that takes care of my weekend. Hope to see a lot of you out there.
Later this week: Local favorite, The John Byrne Band is again opening for the Young Dubliners (since Byrne is himself a young Dubliner, it’s appropriate) at the World Café Live in Philadelphia on Thursday.
And Thursday kicks off the second festival of September—the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival of Irish Music and Dance—with Singers’ Night, hosted by Galway’s Gabriel Donohue, and will feature local favorites including Marian Makins, Rosaleen McGill, Matt Ward, and I hope, Teresa Kane, and more.
The festival runs for three days at the Irish Center. On Friday, September 7, Sean Tyrell brings his one-man musical show, “Who Killed James Joyce?” to the center’s Fireside Room, while the ballroom is turned over the the killer ceili band, McGillians and Friends, for some lively set dancing. (If you’re afraid of looking like a spaz on the dance floor, stop into the Irish Center on Thursday night; instructor John Shields will show you some moves.)
On Saturday, September 8, come to the center for all kinds of musical workshops with the night’s headliners, De Danann, and piper Paddy Keenan, plus nonmusical workshops on everything from making a St. Brigid’s Cross to genealogy, featuring our own Lori Lander Murphy, who can dig up your ancestors better than a gravedigger (she’s dug up a couple of mine).
Now Sunday, you have a choice – day of rest, or playing golf at the annual Cavan Golf Tournament at Cobbs Creek Golf Course in Philadelphia.
On the horizon: the Gloucester City Shamrock Fest on September 15; the Second Annual Haverford Music Fest, featuring Blackthorn, also on September 15; Irish boxing to kick off the AOH Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood, which starts on September 20 and runs through September 22; a simultaneous appearance by Blackthorn those two days at LaCosta in Sea Isle City (I liked it better when Blackthorn was in Wildwood during the AOH fest—what’s the scoop there?); and then Celtic Classic in Bethlehem on September 28, 29, and 30.
There’s some fabulous Irish traditional musicians coming to town this month too, including Donegal fiddlers Peter Campbell and Caoimhin MacAoidh, who will be performing on September 23 at West Chester University, and brothers Cillian (uilleann pipes) and Niall (concertina) Vallely who will take the stage at the Coatesville Cultural Society on September 30.
We and quite a few other folks have been adding to our totally free calendar for September, including, we note, something being held in County Meath, in case you happen to be there. Check it out so you can plan ahead.
ck Conneely (© 2011 Con Kelleher)” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120823mickconneelypic1-300×300.jpg” alt=”Mick Conneely (© 2011 Con Kelleher)” width=”300″ height=”300″ />
Mick Conneely (© 2011 Con Kelleher)
Fiddler Mick Conneely won’t forget the first time he saw the pioneering Irish folk group De Danann live, every last detail permanently etched into his memory.
“I was 15. It was Sunday the 23rd of May 1982. It was the first time I saw them live, a concert my teacher Brendan Mulkere had organized, in Slough, a town south of London. It was dinner time. Me and my dad went. It was the ‘Star Spangled Molly’ tour, my favorite album. It was the only time I was starstruck.”
Conneely, born in Bedford, England, to Irish dad and fiddle player Mick and mum Lizzi, in a home where Irish music was ever present, had been playing fiddle under Mulkere’s tutelage since he was 11. Mulkere must have thought pretty highly of the young man’s abilities, because, Conneely recalls, “didn’t Mr. Mulkere drag me by the scruff of my neck up to the stage to play solo during the intermission?”
Conneely nearly passed out from fear, but the terror quickly passed as he started to play sets from the 1977 duet album, “Frankie Gavin & Alec Finn.”
Looking back, he says, “it was a brilliant exposure. For the first five minutes I was afraid for my life, but then the butterflies turned into something else.”
Gavin, he recalls, was mightily impressed that his young friend had chosen to play tunes from that album, which Conneely describes as his favorite, both then and now. “When I met the lads afterward, Frankie gave me a hug,” he recalls, still sounding like that starstruck kid. “I was on a high from it for years afterward.”
Conneely kept on plugging away devotedly at his fiddle, playing at sessions, ceilis and house parties, in time maturing into a young virtuoso. Then, in 1984, when Conneely was 17, his parents allowed him to accompany some other young musicians to the Willie Clancy Summer School Festival in the West Clare Irish traditional music hotbed of Miltown Malbay. He suddenly found himself surrounded by the royalty of Irish music.
“You’d hear music in a pub, with the likes of Frankie and Mary Bergin and Jackie Daly. It was just unbelieveable. You couldn’t dream it. I’d never been exposed to that level of music. It changed my whole life. 1987 was the year I knew I would be playing till the day I die. What I experienced in Miltown Malbay would never leave me.”
The members of De Danann didn’t forget about Conneely either, as he found out in 1991, when he was 24 years old. What happened then was musical kismet.
“I toured America with the band,” he says, a note of awe still in his voice. “Frankie had broken his arm or his wrist just before the tour, and I got a call from the tour coordinator.” At first he thought it was his childhood friend, now Lunasa frontman Kevin Crawford, playing a joke on him, but it soon became clear: This was no joke.
“That was unbelievable. I knew the tunes, there was no learning curve at all. Why I was thought of, I have no idea to this day, really. I was totally honored and blown away. Imagine being a guitarist and getting a call from Mick Jagger. I went over a boy and came home a man, musically speaking.”
So began a relationship with De Danann that has lasted years, as Conneely became established as Frankie Gavin’s stand-in. He did a couple of tours after that, and a couple of one-off concerts.
Conneely is on the tour that will take De Danann through Philadelphia on Saturday, September 8, for the grand finale concert of the 38th Annual Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival at the Philadelphia Irish Center in Mount Airy. He’ll join De Danann originals, bouzouki wizard Alec Finn and bodhran player Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh, together with the great singer Eleanor Shanley, accordion player Derek Hickey, and Brian McGrath on piano and banjo.
Of course, this incarnation of De Danann is absent Frankie Gavin. The band split up in 2003. Conneely says he doesn’t harbor any illusions that he can take Gavin’s place. “No one can really replace Frankie. He’s still my favorite fiddle player. He’d lift anyone’s soul.”
For now, though, Mick Conneely is happy to share the stage with the band that most inspired him as a kid. “Looking back now,” he says, “I realize I’m the luckiest guy on earth. I’ve realized many of my ambitions, which is rare. Some dreams do come true.”
Learn more about the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival.
The summer is fading fast; Labor Day, that great divider between the season of sun and fun and the season of back-to-school clothes and pencil sharpeners is coming up in a week.
But that’s a good thing, because it’s bringing with it hundreds of Gaelic footballers, hurlers, and camogie players to Philadelphia for the 2012 North American Gaelic Athletic Association championships. The action will center at Pennypack Riverview Fields in Pennypack Park in northeast Philadelphia.
Tickets for the entire weekend is just $45. See our calendar for the details and a link to the ticket website.
But before the games begin, there’s the annual Irish Festival at St. Patrick’s Church on this Saturday and Sunday, August 25 and 26, with food, music, vendors, and fun. On Sunday, the Rev. Gus Puleo will celebrated the Mass of the Golden Rose to honor Our Lady of Knock. After Mass, there’s a celebration at the AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Hall with more music, food, dancing and fun.
You shore goers can catch the Broken Shillelaghs at Tucker’s Pub in Wildwood, NJ on Saturday night and Jamison at Shenanigans in Sea Isle City on Sunday.
Our friends to the north—that would be Allentown—are holding an Irish Heritage Night at Coca Cola Park, home of the Iron Pigs baseball team, a Phillies Triple A affiliate. Check our calendar for the details because there are discounts and group benefits available.
In the not-too-distant future: The Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival of Irish Music and Dance on Sept. 6-8, with DeDannann, Paddy Keenan, Gabriel Byrne, Marian Makins, the McGillians’ topnotch ceili band (for dancing the night away), and Sean Tyrell’s one-man show, “Who Killed James Joyce?” There are also workshops for musicians and some for those interested in genealogy, St. Brigid’s Cross making, the Irish language, and other topics.
Look for The Young Dubliners to head our way in early September, and both the Mercer and Gloucester City Shamrock fests by mid-month, with AOH Wildwood Weekend, the Bethlehem Celtic Fest, and Blackthorn’s shore weekend towards the end of September. That’s your reminder that you’re more than halfway to St. Patrick’s Day.
-full wp-image-7448″ title=”tea party photos” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tea-party-photos.jpg” alt=”” width=”380″ height=”380″ />
Tea party essentials!
It was a tea party. If you didn’t know it by the pretty pots and cups and the table groaning with sweets, you could tell by the hats.
Especially Sylvia Tolan’s hat, a floppy, sparkly J. Lo hat from Kohls, decorated with. . .a hot pink bra. “I made it myself this morning,” said the Havertown woman with a grin. “I needed something girly.”
Clearly, this was no ordinary tea party. And, in fact, it wasn’t. It was a fundraiser for Carmel’s Crew, a group of women, friends of Carmel Bradley of Havertown, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. The group of 20 women each must raise $2,300 to participate in the 3-Day Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in October.
Aisling Travers, a 19-year-old education student at West Chester State University, who has been part of the group since it began, planned the tea party—right down to delicate china cups and the “Keep Calm and Fight On” posters. It was held on Sunday, August 19, at the Malvern home of her parents, Seamus and Marie Travers.
Why a tea party? Travers is blunt: “I hate asking people for money. Plus, fundraisers are usually beef-and-beers and bar-oriented, and being the youngest on the team, I thought it would be cute for the kids to be involved. I wanted it to be a Mom-and-Me event, and there’s nothing more girly than a tea party.”
She signed on for the 3-Day because “it was on my bucket list and I’ve known Carmel and most of the girls since I was little,” says Travers. It was all she hoped for and more. “It was awesome,” she says. “I was nervous the first time, first because we’re walking 60 miles and I was hoping I’d survive, but also because I didn’t know everyone that well. But by the end of the three days, we all became unbelievably close.”
All of Carmel’s Crew are friends of Bradley, a 47-year-old mother of three and Donegal native. In May 2009, after a routine mammogram, she learned she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.
“I know all the controversy about mammograms,” says Bradley, referring to a 2009 recommendation from a government task force that women in their 40s not get screened. “But a mammogram found my cancer. It wasn’t even a lump. It was a thickening of the skin. All I keep thinking is that if I didn’t get a mammogram, if I’d waited three years, I wouldn’t be here.”
Bradley went through both chemotherapy and radiation after a lumpectomy. While she was in treatment, she and the two of her seven sisters who live in the US began talking about the Komen 3-Day. “We talked each other into it,” laughs Bradley, who is completing her degree in special education at West Chester State University.
Initially, she and her sisters—Una McDaid and Fionnuala McBrearty—thought they’d do it themselves. “Then a few friends said they’d liked to and it just grew—to 20,” Bradley says.
The experience was fun, exhausting, but also healing. “I had just finished up treatment three or four months before, but I got so much energy from the group,” she says. “We would just stick together and carry each other along.”
She’s not normally very emotional, Bradley admits, but it got to her. “The survivors wear different colored t-shirts and when I saw the number that were there, I got emotional.”
In fact, everyone in Carmel’s Crew had a weepy day, says her sister, Fionnuala. “In Manayunk we were trudging along and the sister of one of our walkers came out with a sign for us and gave us candy. When we went through Havertown, our kids were lining Darby Road, and they had Irish dancers there, and they were clapping. It really lifts you so much. On the final day, there’s a ceremony for the survivors and we all took our shoes off and raised them to honor Carmel.”
Bradley says that’s the reason she can’t do the walk without dark glasses. “I’m laughing and crying the whole way!”
What also kept her going, she says, was her husband, Louie, who is president of the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association, and their children, Fiona, 17, and twins Shane and Conor, 15. “I don’t know what I would have done without their support and help,” she says. “I knew I needed to keep going because of them.”
Friends and parents at the children’s schools helped out. “We had more dinners than we could eat,” Bradley recalls, laughing. “I was just overwhelmed by the goodness of everybody. When I came from Ireland [25 years ago] I didn’t have any family and friends here at the time. These people have become our family.”
See our photos from the Carmel’s Crew tea party.
” rel=”attachment wp-att-7442″>
Kathy McGee Burns and Ken Casey of The Claddagh Fund. Photo by Brian Mengini.
By Kathy McGee Burns
The Dropkick Murphys are an Irish American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in1996. Their front man, bassist/vocalist Ken Casey has been with them from the beginning.
Have you ever heard their music? Well, let me describe it: feisty, loud, yelling, screaming, rough, in your face and boisterous. Are you getting the message? On the other hand, Ken Casey is boyish, kind, sentimental, sincere, and generous to a fault–generous with his time, talent and money! This is quite a dichotomy.
Ken was born in Milton, MA, the town with the most people of Irish descent in America. His mom, Eileen Kelly and dad, Ken Casey, only had the one child but Ken felt adopted by every family in town. Ken Casey, Sr. died when Ken was very young but his hero, his Grandda, John Kelly took him under his wing and helped him to form the principles Ken lives by every day.
John Kelly was a Teamster who taught his grandson the plight of the Irish working class, the experiences of Irish immigration in Boston and what it is like to be the low man on the totem pole. He emphasized that you need to stand up for yourself and give back what treasures you get. John Kelly told his grandson, “Gratitude is an action.”
At first, Ken says, he was doing a million things for many charities. Then friends began suggesting that he start his own. They said, “Your fans will get involved and feel a part of it,” he told me when we talked recently.
Now, Ken Casey is doing just that. He has formed The Claddagh Fund which is a charity foundation based on the attributes linked to the Claddagh: “Friendship, Love and Loyalty.” It was started in Boston with the help of the great hockey star, Bobby Orr. The band was able to incorporate a lot of fundraising activities with their events and to date, the Dropkick Murphy’s have raised about $1 million.
I was introduced to Ken’s music when I joined the Claddagh Fund’s board of directors and I have to admit I’m still adjusting to it. It is quite different from local Irish music legend Vince Gallagher singing “Emigrant Eyes.” The Irish music that the Dropkick Murphys do is familiar—“Finnegan’s Wake,” “Black Velvet Band,” “Wild Rover”– but “reformulated and modernized for the younger ear,” Ken told me.
He told me that Pete St. John, who wrote the Irish favorite, “Fields of Athenry,” came to see the Dropkick Murphys perform the song and loved it.
Many of the songs they choose mirror the social conscience of the band. The song “Broken Hymns” reflects a young man’s perspective of the Civil War:
“Now the battle hymns are playing
Report of shots not far away
No prayer, no promise, no hand of God
Could save the souls of the blue and grey
Tell their wives that they fought bravely
As they lay them in their graves”
Then there is the song called “The Hardest Mile,” about Duffy’s Cut, the site in Malvern where in 1832, 57 Irish railroad workers were killed—some by cholera, others at the hands of area vigilantes who were afraid they were going to spread the disease.
“Now ghosts dance a jig on an unmarked grave
A slug full of lead was the price they were paid
Vigilante justice, prejudice and pride
No one in this valley will be seen again alive.”
The best, to me, though, is their song “Boys on the Docks”, which is a tribute to the memory of John Kelly:
“And the boys on the docks needed John for sure
When they came to this country he opened the door
He said “Man. I’ll tell ya, they don’t like our kind
Though it starts with a fist it might end with your mind.”
Ken Casey tells a charming story about Bruce Springsteen. He first met “the Boss” when Springstein showed up to a Dropkick Murphy’s gig in New York City, with his son. Ken was still on the bus when he got an urgent call, “Someone wants to see you. “ He rushed to his dressing room and there HE was. Well, here’s the tearjerker, on St Patrick’s Day 2011, to a sold out crowd, in Fenwick Park, they both sang “Peg of My Heart, to Ken’s Grandmother, Peg Kelly. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2R2cG2Ah4Y
The Claddagh Fund now has a Chapter here. Ken says that Philadelphia reminds him of Boston with its tight-knit communities and a network of friends.
They’re counting on we generous Philadelphia Irish to help make the Claddagh Fund a success here. And by success, I mean raising money for the five underfunded charities it’s supporting in the city, including:
Build Jake’s Place, whose mission is to build playgrounds for children of all abilities;
StandUp for Kids, which helps homeless and runaway kids on the streets;
Peter’s Place, an organization that helps grieving children and families;
Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center, which helps veterans with employment, training and related educational services and offers assistance to veterans who are having tough times;
Limen House, which provides a temporary home for recovering substance abusers.
The latest fundraiser will be the First Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament to he held on Monday, September 17, at Woodcrest Country Club, 300 Evesham Road in Cherry Hill, NJ. There are plenty of sponsorships available, ranging from $250 to $10,000 and a foursome costs $1,250. For more information, contact Claddagh Fund Philadelphia Director Kate McCloud and 267-644-8095, or email her at kathleenmccloud@claddaghfund.org.
It should be a great day for golf and celebrity watching. Here’s what I’m hoping: That Bruce Springsteen shows up with his clubs and he and Ken serenade Kate and I with “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.”
phia.com/2012/08/donegal-man-named-to-upper-darby-police-youth-athletic-hall-of-fame/kevin-ward/” rel=”attachment wp-att-7434″>
Kevin Ward, center, with Upper Darby Police Chief Michael Chitwood, right, and James A. Harrity, left, of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police.
BY SEÁN P. FEENY
Of the Donegal News
(Reprinted with permission)
A Donegal native has been inducted into the Upper Darby Police Youth Athletic Gym Hall of Fame in Philadelphia becoming the second member of his family to do so.
Kevin Ward, originally from Creeslough but living in Philadelphia for the past twenty years, received the prestigious accolade at a presentation night. Currently visiting his native Creeslough with his uncle, John Boyle from Cashel, we caught up with Kevin.
The son of Danny and the late Bridget Ward, Drumnacarry, was surrounded by friends and family as he became the second member of the Ward family to receive the award.
Kevin’s brother Brendan is also a Hall of Famer and was named Man of the Year by the Upper Darby Police Athletic League in 2011.
“There’s no tougher man than my brother Brendan, I had tougher sparring sessions with him than most of my fights, he taught me a lot.
“Brendan got into the Hall of Fame a few years ago, then last year he was named Man Of The Year as he is still very much involved with the kids.
“When they announced that I was to be inducted, it came as a big surprise as I never thought I was worthy, It was very special, especially as my uncle John Boyle, who has always been very close to us, was over from Manchester for it,” said Kevin.
Kevin joined the Upper Darby Police Youth Athletic Gym when he first moved over to the States in 1992, having grown up boxing with Dunfanaghy ABC.
“I started boxing with Dunfanaghy at the age of 14 under Eddie Harkin and Mickey Dunnion. When I was 18 I moved to London where I boxed with Highgate Boxing Gym for a few years before moving to Philadelphia,” he said.
Kevin joined his older Brendan, who had moved to Philadelphia in the early 80s, at the Upper Darby gym and started boxing on the amateur circuit.
During his career he won the Golden Gloves in 1993, the Mid Atlantic Championship, the Diamond Championship and the Tri State Championship over five years.
Although he is not a full-time coach, the Upper Darby gym is still like a second home to the Creeslough man and he enjoys visiting hand having a ‘mess around’ with the kids.
Kevin comes from a family of boxers. His oldest brother Donal was a boxer, Brendan was a professional boxer and their uncle John Boyle, a native of Cashel but residing in Manchester, was a prize fighter competing around the North England city.
-210/baseball/” rel=”attachment wp-att-7430″>
Irish dancers at the Phillies' Irish Heritage Night--expect more of same in Camden this week.
I love how creative the Irish are about raising money. This Saturday, the folks at McShea’s Bar and Restaurant in Narberth are hoping you’ll bet on the horses. They’re holding a fundraiser for the Beacon Lodge, a Lions Club charity and camp for adults and children with special needs, that they’re calling “McShea’s Summer Derby.” It features “10 races and cheeky narration from the British Isles” and it will be held mid-afternoon at the pub. Sounds like fun for a good cause.
And on a serious note: The Friends of Irish Freedom, an organization that supports Republican political prisoners and their families (no, not the GOP Republicans), is having an informational meeting at the William Way Community Center on Spruce Street in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon from 3-5 PM.
For you shore goers, Jamison is performing at Shenanigans in Sea Isle City on Sunday night. They’ll be back there again on Sunday, August 26.
Get out of work early on Tuesday so you can see some team go up against the River Sharks of Camden at Campbell’s Field in the city across the Delaware from Philly. It doesn’t matter what team it is—it’s Irish Heritage Night, so there will be pregame Irish dance performances, food, and music. Plus, it’s Dollar Tuesday, so some food and drink is just a buck. See our calendar for special codes that will get you discounted tickets. You don’t need to prove that you’re Irish.
Don’t forget two great upcoming events: On Labor Day weekend, GAA players will be descending on Philadelphia from all over North America for the National Championships in football, hurling, and camogie to be held at Pennypack Park at the Riverview Fields in Northeast Philadelphia. Tickets for the entire weekend are only $45 and there will be action on five fields, plus some tasty Irish food and drink.
And the Philadelphia Ceili Group is holding its annual festival of Irish music and dance (its 38th), with special guests the legendary group DeDannan and piper Paddy Keenan giving a concert on Saturday night, September 8. On September 6, Galway’s Gabriel Donohue hosts the annual singers’ night, and on Friday, Irish folk singer Sean Tyrell brings his one-man show, “Who Killed James Joyce,” to the Irish Center, which is also hosting a ceili with live music by the McGillians and Friends, the region’s best ceili band.
424″ title=”Footies” src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Footies.jpg” alt=”” width=”380″ height=”320″ />
Football at Dougherty.
By Peter McDermott
Philadelphia is looking forward to hosting the North American County Gaelic Athletic Championship Finals this coming Labor Day weekend; Friday, August 31 through Sunday, September 2 in Pennypack Park, 7777 State Road, Philadelphia.
The venue is located along the banks of the Delaware River in the Northeast section of the city. Gaels from all over North America–stretching from Toronto to Texas, Vancouver to Virginia, Denver to D.C., San Francisco to Seattle, and Boston to the Big Apple–will converge on the City of Brotherly Love. George Washington led his troops across this same Delaware River into battle with the Hessians in 1776. Now 236 years later, we will see captains leading their respective clubs into action in pursuit of the North American medals and trophies.
Many of the teams are still in divisional championship contests, so the list of teams will be forthcoming when results are in.
There will be five fields of non-stop action, with the women participating in camogie and Gaelic football, and the men in Gaelic football and hurling. From the early hours of the morning to early evening, the playoff brackets will wind down to the finals, which take place on Sunday. Don’t miss the quarter- and semi-finals throughout Friday and Saturday–some great rivalries will be re-ignited. Shield competitions will be held in select competitions for clubs which are eliminated.
Attendees can enjoy a Taste of Philly while cheering on their favorite teams. Jim’s Steaks, serving up Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia for over 70 years, will be on-site. We will also have breakfast sandwiches, Irish breakfast, Irish scones, and coffee and tea to start your day. Burgers, chicken fingers, sausages, chicken curry, and chips will also be available. Wash it down with an energy drink, a stout, or a lager.
Take a break from the action and stop over at the O’Neills Apparel Tent where you can get the best gear straight from the Emerald Isle. O’Neills have been outfitting clubs and counties worldwide since 1918, and have been sponsors of the North American G.A.A. for a decade.
Most participants and supporters will be staying at the Sheraton of Downtown Philadelphia, in Center City, easily accessible to the Vine Street Expressway, and Interstate 95; just 15 minutes to the playoff pitches.
Tickets to the Event are available at a daily rate ($15 Friday, $20 on Saturday and Sunday) or a discounted weekend pass ($45). Children age 17 and under are admitted free.
Bus transportation will be provided, free of charge, from the hotel(s) to the fields. Regular schedules will be available and posted at the fields and the hotel(s).
For you out-of-towners: Unwind at nearby Irish restaurants and pubs. In the Northern Liberties section, along Spring Garden, you will find Finnigan’s Wake Irish Pub, three floors of fun with music and libations, late into the night. Downtown, across from Love Park, is Tír Na nÓg Irish Bar & Grill. Live music and dancing, coupled with a staff that wrote the book on debauchery. Additional venues will be profiled, closer to that weekend.
Updates of the official schedule are available on the North American G.A.A. website (www.NorthAmericanGAA.com). Also, links, and images of the schedule will be provided on the Philadelphia G.A.A. website .
Friday, August 31 • Schedule
Saturday, September 1 • Schedule
All proceeds will benefit the new GAA sports complex in Limerick, PA, which, when completed, will have two full-sized pitches, a clubhouse with offices and a function room, and locker rooms– a dream finally realized for Gaels throughout Philadelphia.
Check out this video about the new Irish Sports Complex coming to Limerick.
