Sports

Up the Mairead Farrells

Maireads in Frisco

Sinead Fegan, Niamh McGowan, Laura McGillion, Adele Gallagher and Orla Fegan. (Photo by Peter McDermott)

It was a tougher fight this time around, but Philadelphia’s own Mairead Farrells are back from the North American Gaelic Athletic Association finals with their second-in-a-row ladies senior football championship.

The locals beat Boston’s talented Tir na nOg team 3-9 to 3-7 in the Labor Day weekend finals, having previously edged out San Francisco’s home team, the Fog City Harps, in the semi-finals.

Angela Mohan, the Mairead Farrells’ coach and manager, said she wasn’t surprised at the tight margin of success in the city by the bay. “The teams knew we ran away with it last year,” she said, “so it was very close this year.”

In the semi-finals, the outcome hinged on the outcome of a penalty shot in the final five minutes of the game. “Ciara Moore (the team captain) nailed it,” said Mohan. She converted the penalty, which helped us to go on and win that game.”

In the finals, Mohan acknowledges that the win was truly a group effort, but she credits goalkeeper Desiree DeBaldo for her fierce defense. DeBaldo is a longtime soccer player (she played for the University of Scranton), and Mohan says her mental toughness helped win the day. “She’s outstanding. I mean, everybody was outstanding, but she’s an American girl who learned the game and is very good in the net. She’s your typical soccer player who is not afraid to dive.”

Mohan says she was thinking about retiring, but she is so excited by the possibility of a hat trick that she’s going to hang around. And next year’s North American games will be fought here in Philadelphia, which would make a three-peat especially sweet.

And who knows, Mohan says. The Maireads might even go on to beat another record–that of Philadelphia’s celebrated Emerald Eagles, who won four senior titles in a row. “I played for the Emerald Eagles back then in the ’90s, and that record has never been broken,” she says. “My goal is to beat my own record. We’ll see what happens. One year at a time.”

September 9, 2011 by
News

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

What, do we have to draw you pictures?

What, do we have to draw you pictures? There's fun for everybody at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival.

This week starts with a bang.

First and foremost, Saturday is the final day of the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival at the Irish Center/Commodore Barry Club in Mount Airy. And a full day it is, starting at 11 a.m. with the John Kelly Music Session in the club’s cozy Fireside Room, and plowing on throughout the afternoon with hands-on traditional Irish music workshops for all skill levels, vendors selling Irish merchandise, lectures in genealogy and the Irish language, dance demonstrations, storytelling for the kids, food and treats, and more. (There’s also a workshop on the ghosts of Duffy’s Cut, just added.)

Saturday night, the great local band Runa opens the festival’s closing concert, starting at 7, leading into this year’s headliners: Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey and Brendan Dolan from the world-class Pride of New York.

Full schedule and ticket info here: http://www.philadelphiaceiligroup.org/

Also on Saturday:

Attend the Gloucester County A.O.H. Commodore Barry Memorial Day, starting with a wreath laying at the Barry Monument at the Commodore Barry Bridge in Bridgeport, N.J., at 11 a.m. Mass follows at noon at the AOH Hall, 200 Columbia Boulevard in National Park. A free luncheon follows, with music by by the Broken Shillelaghs.

If you aren’t all festival-ed out, check out the first-ever Mercer Irish Festival, from 12 to 8 at Mercer County Park, 1638 Old Trenton Road in West Windsor, N.J. You’ll recognize many of the bands, including the Shanties and the Birmingham 6. Dance to “chunes” by the Moyvale Ceili Band. There are lessons from 12 to 2 for beginning dancers. There will be plenty of Irish food—how long since you last had bangers and mash?—rides and activities for the kiddies, and plenty of merch.

Full schedule and maps and directions here: http://www.merceririshfest.com/

Or, Saturday morning at 9, head down to the Irish Center (or maybe sleep in your car at the Carpenter Lane railroad station; this is early for Irish folks) for televised Irish football and hurling. Admission is 20 bucks. Check with the Irish Center for times and matchups: 215-843-8051. (More games the next morning at 11. It’s the camogie championship, Galway vs. Wexford. (Camogie is hurling for women. Not sure we’d call them “ladies.”)

If thou wish, sirs and mistresses, hie thee to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire at the Mount Hope Estate and Winery in Manheim on Saturday from 11 to 8. It’ll give you a chance to brush up your Shakespeare. You might even get to call somebody a “vile poltroon.” (We’re not sure what that is, but maybe it has something to do with chickens.)

For the rest of the week—aren’t you exhausted yet?—catch Scottish singer-songwriter Ian Bruce Wednesday night at 7:30 at Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. The concert is hosted by our friends at Green Willow: http://www.greenwillow.org/

On Thursday at 11 in the morning, the Irish American Genealogy Group meets at the Philadelphia Irish Immigration Center, 7 Cedar Lane in Upper Darby.

If you’re not wiped yet, you should be. If you’re a glutton for punishment, there’s lots more on our calendar:

http://irishinphilly.com/calendar

September 9, 2011 by
Music, News, People

Brittingham’s Irish Festival 2011

Daddy-daughter dance

Daddy-daughter dance

The weather has been unpredictable and, at times, near catastrophic lately, but the sun shone brightly on Brittingham’s 2011 Irish Festival. And with all that sun, fans of Irish music, dance, food and merch made plenty of hay. Figuratively speaking.

Jamison is always a big hit with fans, but on this one gorgeous day on a big lot behind the Lafayette Hills pub they brought festival-goers to their feet. After all the rainy days, maybe we all just needed an afternoon of dancing.

And speaking of dancers, the kids of Celtic Flame performed frequently throughout the afternoon. A big hit, as always.

Later in the day, we caught former Blackthorn guitarist Seamus Kelleher’s act. He’s every bit as much fun as a solo.

September 7, 2011 by
Columns, Music, News, People

Aon Sceal?

Emmett Ruane will be at WTMR on Sunday to reminisce about Emmett's Place.

Last weekend, Hurricane Irene washed out the planned Emmett’s On-Air Reunion and Pledge Drive for “Come West Along the Road,” Marianne MacDonald’s Sunday Irish radio show on WTMR 800 AM. The waters have receded (well, here at least) and the electricity is on (well, here at least), so the show is going on this Sunday at noon. Special co-host is Emmett Ruane, former owner of Emmett’s Place in Philadelphia, a which was a popular watering hole and music venue for the city’s Irish set and ceili dancers.

Sunday’s show will feature local music, a few trips back in time, and live, in-studio performances. If you were a fan of Emmett’s, call or email Marianne at 856-236-2717 or rinceseit@msn.com to join the crowd in the studio.

If It’s Tuesday, I Must Be with Amos Lee

Andrew Jay Keenan, possibly the workingest musician in Philly, plays with The John Byrne Band (Irish folk), Citizens Band Radio (country-rock), and Amos Lee (folk, rock, and soul). If you’re a fan of any of those bands, you’ve seen Keenan at World Café Live. Or maybe the Ellen Show, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. That’s with the Amos Lee band. You can catch Keenan (to the right of Amos) in this clip from their recent Jimmy Kimmel appearance. You can catch him live wherever those three bands are playing in Philly (try September 25 at the Philly F/M Fest at World Café Live with The John Byrne Band).

Happy Birthday, Baby!

One of the things we like best about Facebook is that it reminds us of birthdays. So we’re going to steal a page from Mark Zuckerberg and wish a happy September birthday to our Irish Philly peeps.

Happy Birthday to Patti Byrd (9/4), Cara Anderson Boiler (9/4), Oliver Mcelhone (9/6), Helen Henry Degrand (9/8), Kathleen Trainor (9/9), Maria Gallagher (9/13), Paddy O’Brien (9/13), Trish O’Donnell Jenkins (9/15), Thomas Staunton (9/18), Patricia Burke (9/19), Carol Swanson (9/20), Frances O’Donnell Duffy (9/20), Michael Callahan (9/20), John Egan (9/23), John Boyce (9/25), Kiera McDonagh (9/26), Fil Campbell (9/27), and Mairead Timoney Wink (9/28).

Good Luck to the Mairead Farrells

Our own Mairead Farrell Ladies Gaelic Football Club is headed to San Francisco this weekend to defend their title as national senior champs. Keep the cup, ladies!

 

Aon Sceal means “what’s the story?” in Irish. If you have a story you want us to tell, email denise.foley@comcast.net. Don’t make me come after you.

September 2, 2011 by
News

My Big Fat Irish-American Family

Firecracker Films' "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" is a major hit in the UK and on The Learning Channel in the US.

The international production company that’s behind TLC’s hit series “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding” and the documentary “Mermaid Girl” is casting in Philadelphia and several other cities for a series pilot about a “strong” Irish-American family or business.

“We’re looking for fun, loveable families, the kind you want to tune in with, kick back and go along for the ride,” explains Alice Sharp, director of Development for Firecracker Films, a Santa Monica, CA-based company that specializes in the kinds of can’t-look-away documentaries you see on TLC, A&E, National Geographic, Animal Planet and the Oprah Network (where some of its work has appeared).

While Sharp couldn’t elaborate on the type of documentary they want to film in Philadelphia, she was clear about one thing. “It will be nothing Jersey Shore-esque,” she told us this week. They’re not looking for the Irish equivalent of Snooki and The Situation. Nor will the “stars” be whisked away to another location to interact. They want a real family. “It will be more of an insight into Irish-American culture,” Sharp explains.

Along with “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” which looks at the shrouded world of Irish gypsy weddings in England (a US version is in the works) and “Mermaid Girl,” about a child born with a condition in which her legs are fused, Firecracker Films has produced what they aptly call “irresistible content.”

That includes “Three Weddings and an Execution,” about women drawn to men behind bars; “The Autistic Me,” which looks at the lives of three young men with autism; “The Man Whose Arms Exploded,” which focuses on the world of extreme bodybuilding; and “Alone Among Grizzlies,” an Animal Planet special on the work of Swiss biologist David Bitner who studies the bears at close range in Alaska.

If you have a fun, loving, loveable multi-generational family filled with “characters,” and don’t mind letting it all hang out for the camera, Sharp wants to talk to you. You can reach her at phillycasting@hotmail.com.

September 2, 2011 by
Music, News, People

Celtic Rockers’ Charity Comes to Philly

The Dropkick Murphys' Ken Casey. Photo by Brian Mengini. Image may not be reproduced without the photographer's permission.

They said their goal was to  be “the AC/DC of Celtic rock,” and, if you’ve ever heard their kickass version of “The Fields of Athenry,” it’s pretty clear that Dropkick Murphys can scratch that one off their bucket list.

This Celtic punk band, born in 1996 in the basement of a Quincy, Massachusetts barbershop, is best known for its hard-driving beat and its working class political leanings. In 2010, those pro-union sentiments spawned a re-release of their tune, “Take ‘Em Down,” to show their solidarity with public union workers in Wisconsin who had taken over the state capitol building to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to curtail collective bargaining rights. The band also produced a T-shirt they sold to benefit the Workers’ Rights Emergency Response Fund.

But what many don’t know about the band is that since 2009, the Dropkick Murphys have been doing all kinds of good things through The Claddagh Fund, founded by front man Ken Casey. Honoring the three attributes of the Claddagh ring—love, loyalty, and friendship, they’ve sought out and supported largely underfunded community-based groups serving the most vulnerable populations, including children, veterans, and recovering substance abusers.

The first year they started in their backyard, funding Massachusetts charities including the Dorchester Boys & Girls Club, The Franciscan Hospital for Children, and the Greater Lowell YMCA. Since then, they’ve gone international, donating to The Belvedere Youth Club in Dublin Ireland, Springboard Opportunities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the Hope for Haiti Children’s Center in Port Au Prince.

When the Dropkick Murphys come to Philadelphia on September 18 at the Electric Factory with their Shamrock-N-Roll Tour, they’re bringing the Claddagh Fund with them—to stay. They’ve chosen Philadelphia—where they have a huge fan base—as the next target of their largesse. The first organization they’re supporting is Stand Up For Kids, a little known program, staffed almost entirely by volunteers, that does outreach with homeless and street kids.

“One of the things that the Claddagh Fund can bring to the table for an organization like Stand Up for Kids is to give them the kind of exposure that they would not ordinarily get,” says Ken Casey.”Through our family, friends and fans, the Dropkick Murphys can make sure people hear about all of the great things organizations like StandUp for Kids do. Since we have partnered up with StandUp for Kids in May, they have already been setting up tents and tables at Electric Factory events assisting with raising awareness and increasing their volunteer base which inevitably makes fundraising easier.”

Kate McCloud, director of the Philadelphia Chapter of The Claddagh Fund, says the Claddagh Fund was born out of Ken Casey’s own giving nature. “This comes right from Ken’s heart,” she says. “He just wants to give back and to assist those communities that have supported the Dropkick Murphys on their journey.”

The idea to create the fund, says Casey, “came up during a conversation with Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr while we were planning a Golf Tournament. One of the things I really liked was the idea of establishing a formal nonprofit that gives fans an even clearer picture of where their donations are headed.” Next was figuring out how to harness the energy of Dropkick fans outside of New England and spread the Claddagh Fund’s themes of friendship, love and loyalty. Casey says that his decision to expand to Philadelphia was an easy one. “It is just a natural fit. There are so many similarities between the two towns. They both love their communities, families, and sports teams. Philadelphians are good hardworking people and have always been good to the Dropkick Murphys. We want to do what we can to give back to a community that has been so good to us.”

From the beginning, the Claddagh Fund, which raised more than a half a million dollars in its first year, has deliberately adopted lesser known charities. In Boston they give to hospitals,for example, but tend to avoid giving to the larger ones. The sentiment is simple. “Those institutions are well established. We want to find those organizations that no one sees, the ones that are helping those in our communities that otherwise would not have any assistance.” says Casey.

The Claddagh Fund’s local board members are also a resource. They include Bryan Dilworth, well known Electric Factory concert promoter; Mike McNally, general manager of the Electric Factory; sports radio personality Al Morganti; Dan Rudley from Comcast Sports Net; Greg Dupee of RBC Wealth Management; Robert Coyle, who serves on the executive board of District Council 47, of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Kathy McGee Burns, a local realtor and president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association, and several other influential Philadelphians, some of whom volunteered, says McCloud with a laugh, “because they’re die-hard Dropkick Murphy fans.

Stand Up for Kids, which has its headquarters in Atlanta and chapters around the country, is the perfect choice for the fund’s first Philadelphia effort. “We want to reward folks who are doing the work for the right reasons,” says McCloud. “We want to be their tipping point, so they can continue to do great things.”

If you want to learn more about the Claddagh Fund and Stand Up for Kids, buy tickets to the Shamrock-N-Roll concert at the Electric Factory on September 18. You get to hear the Dropkick Murphys along with Street Dogs (featuring former DM frontman Mike McColgan), the Mahones, and the Parkington Sisters, among others. Also on the bill: “Irish” Micky Ward, the Boston fighter played by Mark Wahlberg in the film, “The Fighter.” And you’ll learn how you can help support the house that Celtic punk rock built.

For more information now, contact Kate McCloud at kathleen.mccloud@claddaghfund.org

September 2, 2011 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week (Month!)

Kevin McGillian will be playing his umpteenth Ceili Group music fest at the end of the week.

Over the next month, you can pretty much count on an Irish festival every weekend. Along with telling you how to be Irish this week, we’re going to give you a preview of how you can be Irish festival-goers during the month of September.

This is the week that hundreds of traditional Irish music fans from Philly wait for every year—the annual Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Traditional Irish Music and Dance Festival, which opens this Thursday, September 8, at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy with Singer’s Night, hosted by musician and publican Gerry Timlin (The Shanachie in Ambler). Some of the best voices in the area will perform traditional Irish tunes that will transport you to another world and time.

The rest of the festival, which runs through Saturday, September 10, is equally evocative of old Ireland, though this year has some interesting modern touches. On Friday night, Don Issacson’s Simple System will be in from Baltimore with Isaacson who plays flute, uilleann pipes, tin whistle and bouzouki; Aaron Olwell on concertina, fiddle and flute; Danny Noveck on fiddle and guitar; Kelly Smit, a sean-nos dancer, and Matthew Olwell who plays bodhran. They’ll also be doing workshops on Saturday.

Also on Friday evening: a ceili/set dance with a ceili band head by premier box man Kevin McGillian with sons Jimmy and John and friend, Judy Brennan. They are the best around.

Saturday, you’ll have music all day, as well as vendors and workshops on everything from genealogy (taught by our very own Lori Lander Murphy) to Irish folktales for children with Basha Gardner, a local actress to the Irish language with Leo Mohan.

The day starts with the John Kelly Memorial Session. Kelly was a Sligo man who emigrated to the US and led the music for the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Friday night ceilies from the mid ’70s until 1990 when he died. Many of the performers learned what they knew from Kelly, including Kitty Kelly, her husband, Mike Albrecht, Chris Carpenter, Danny Flynn, Tom Cahill, John Donnelly, Ed Clark, Tom and Marian Gittleman, Tom Kelly, Chris Brennan Hagy, Paraic Keane, and Dave Miller.

On Saturday night, RUNA headed by Shannon Lambert-Ryan will be playing at the evening concert, along with Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, and Billy McComiskey from The Pride of New York.

This is a first class lineup. Conway, a New York fiddler, was named traditional Irish artist of 2008 by the Irish Echo newspaper in New York. Brendan Dolan, also a New Yorker, is the son of Irish traditional piano legend Felix Dolan. Brendan, however, plays flute and whistles, is a composer and also curator of the Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection in the Archives of Irish America at Tamiment Library in New York. He’s a familiar face at the Catskills Irish Weekend every year. Billy McComiskey is a fixture of the Baltimore Irish music scene and is considered one of the most influential box players in the US.

RUNA, while solidly traditional, usually adds a top note or two of something more contemporary—a little jazz, a little country, a little whatever strikes their fancy. This Philadelphia-based band is not to be missed.

Small but mighty. That describes Brittingham’s 3rd Annual Irish Festival which takes place on September 4 (Labor Day weekend) in the parking lot of the Lafayette Hill Irish pub and restaurant. Jamison, Paul Moore and Friends, Seamus Kelleher (late of Blackthorn) and Seamus McGroary will provide the music. And with two Seamuses on the bill, you know it’s really Irish.

With food and drink, kids activities, and vendors, it’s a great afternoon, particularly if you have young kids who get in free. BYO lawn chair.

Before you go, head over to the Irish Center in Mount Airy for live GAA action from Ireland on the big screen TVs. Or, if you’re in Bethlehem, have a big Irish breakfast (I think they do a mean Ulster fry) at McCarthy’s Tea Room’s traditional Irish music brunch. The Tea Room is attached to the Donegal Square gift shop.

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is on schedule this weekend in Manheim. Travel back in time, meet lots of interesting people who will speak to you in what sounds like a foreign tongue although it’s English.

Love ‘80s music? On Tuesday, The Motels are appearing at the World Café Live. The reason we mention it is that Irish folkers, The John Byrne Band, will be opening for this ‘80s act. We’re not sure about this pairing. We’re kinda hoping John will do his version of “Funkytown.”

There’s more going on next weekend than the Philadelphia Ceili Festival. The Mercer Irish Fest is the latest entry on the September fest scene. Held at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ, the day-long event features live music by The Shanteys, Birmingam 6, the Willie Lynch Band, the Nog Bhoys, Billie O’Neill and Nancy Ferguson, as well as the Moyvale Ceili Band. There will be a beginner’s class for ceili dancing taught by Annie Boyle and, from Ireland, singer Mary Courtney will be performing.

Expect Irish food, vendors (including Newbridge!), and great kiddie activities including pony rides and face painting. For those who will miss the Green Lane Celtic Festival this year (called on account of recession), this is a good substitute.

Also on September 10, the Gloucester County AOH is holding a ceremony and wreath-laying at the Commodore John Barry monument at the Commodore Barry Bridge in Bridgeport, NJ. The event starts with a Mass and is followed by a free lunch afterwards at the Gloucester County AOH/Richard Rossiter Memorial Hall in National Park, NJ. There’s free parking at the Delaware River Port Authority building. Barry, considered the father of the American Navy, was a Wexford native who settled in Philadelphia and distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War.

You can also catch Jamison at Curran’s Irish Inn in Bensalem on Saturday night, September 10.

On September 18, the Boston-based Dropkick Murphys’ “Shamrock-N-Roll” Festival stops in Philly at the Electric Factory with a lineup that includes the Street Dogs (also from Boston, with a DM link—front man Mike McColgan once performed the same duties for DM), Chuck Ragan (an acoustic folkie who was once with a punk band), the Mahones (Irish punkers from Canada), and the Parkington Sisters (five sisters from Cape Cod) among others. You’ll also get a chance to see “Irish” Micky Ward, the Boston fighter immortalized in the Mark Wahlberg bio-pic “The Fighter” who will give a boxing demo and sign autographs.

The Dropkick Murphys are using the Philly gig to kick off the expansion of The Claddagh Fund, a charitable foundation started in 2009 by DM’s frontman Ken Casey. Based on the sentiments of the Claddagh ring—friendship, love, and loyalty—the foundation’s mission is to raise money for the most underfunded charities that support the community’s most vulnerable populations. In Philly, the foundation has chosen Stand Up for Kids, a Georgia-based organization whose volunteers go out into the street to help locate and help homeless children and street kids.

Get yourself ready for two major annual Irish festivals this month. Of course, they occur at pretty much the same time (the weekend of the 23rd and can we tell you how much we hate that?). We’ve been to both and you can’t go wrong no matter which one you choose.

If you head north of Philly, the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem offers acres of activities. It needs to—this fest includes Highland games (caber tossing, and the throwing and lifting of other heavy stuff), sheep dog trials, and a haggis-eating and a pipe band competition. Among the topnotch groups on tap: Solas, the Screaming Orphans, Blackwater, the Paul McKenna Band, Glengarry Bhoys, Comas, Makem and Spain Brothers, Timlin and Kane, and Seamus Kennedy.

If you meander down to South Jersey (starting Thursday, September 22), the AOH Cape May Division 1 is throwing its big party in North Wildwood with miles of vendors, a boxing match, great bands (Bogside Rogues, Paul Moore and Friends, Sean Fleming Band, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, the Broken Shillelaghs, Belfast Connection, Secret Service, the Barley Boys, Bare Knuckle Boxers. Philly’s lucky charm, Timmy Kelly will be there, and the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition will take place, as usual, at 8th and Central Avenues. There’s also a parade after Mass on Sunday.

Check our calendar for all the details.

We put together a little retrospective of Ceili Group Festivals of the past we thought you’d enjoy. View them here. 

August 31, 2011 by
Sports

Thunderball

thunderball

Naomh Peregrine's Stefan McKenna closes in on the Kevin Barrys' Eddie Trainor.

I’m pretty sure the Kevin Barrys squared off against the Naomh Peregrines in Sunday’s senior Irish football match at Cardinal Dougherty High School.

I’m also pretty sure the Barrys won it, 1-11 to 1-7.

Don’t hold me to it, though, because the rain was pouring down in buckets, nearly horizontal most of the time, with gusty, whistling winds. It was hard to see a lot of what was going on. For all I know, there might have been three or four neighborhood kids out on the field playing stickball.

Seriously? It was the most insane game of any sport I’ve ever attended.

The match was delayed for a time as the first in a band of driving rains, what we all hoped would be the last, passed over the Olney neighborhood. All the players sat in their cars and trucks, windshields misting over. The skies boomed and flashed. Black clouds rolled overhead like giant tumbleweeds. It was beginning to look like the all-important championship game wasn’t going to happen. And that was a big deal because the winner would be qualified to travel to San Francisco for the North American Gaelic Athletic Association finals September 2 – 4. In event of a washout, a game could be played this coming weekend, but … the closer to the date of

departure, the more expensive the tickets. Because of the cost, one wag told me it was a game no one wanted to win.

At last, the skies cleared. One optimistic Peregrine weather watcher looked up and noted that there was going to be a break in the storms.

So the game started. The ref blew the starting whistle. And then a storm of apocalyptic proportions suddenly and dramatically crashed the party. The field turned into a slippy mess, pockmarked with ankle-deep puddles. And this storm was just getting started.

Impossibly, it got worse. From time to time flashes of lightning lit up the scene like a strobe light. Thunder drowned out the calls and cheers of fans and players on the sidelines.

It was the kind of dangerous behavior they warn you about on the Weather Channel, but no one once suggested calling the game. The Barrys and the Peregrines played on.

Gaelic athletes are a reckless lot under normal circumstances, but this was a special kind of crazy, even for them.

And if you didn’t mind being the wettest and coldest you’d ever been in your life, soaked right down to your skivvies, it was a perverse kind of fun. Hard to explain when you got home—You went where??? You did what???—but a game to be remembered all the same.

Earlier in the afternoon—when the sun was still shining—the St. Patricks and Eire Og junior-C football teams went head to head in a fast-paced game. The St. Pats emerged the victors, 3-8 to 1-5. They too are qualified to compete in San Fran.

We have photos of all the action.

August 26, 2011 by