Gaelic Athletic Association

I don’t know what Frank O’Meara said to his Shamrock hurlers at half-time on Sunday, July 13, at Cardinal Dougherty field, but they came roaring back from a scoreless first half to tie the match against the against the Allentown Hibernians. Final score: 3-4 Shamrocks, 4-1 Hibernians.

These two new teams—some of whose members had never heard of hurling until this spring—are improving by literal leaps and bounds. Allentown had come off of two losses for the tie. “We’re happy with a tie game,” says team member Jeff Purtell who, a PGA golf pro, might see a little of the “good walk spoiled” in hurling, in which the ball, called a sliotar or sliothar, is often walloped at 90 miles an hour more than a 100 yards down the field.

But there’s no leisurely putting in hurling. In fact, there’s no leisurely anything. “It’s a full 60 minutes,” says Purtell.

There are two more local games on the roster—August 3 and August 10—then both hurling teams will go to the North American Champsionship near Boston August 29-31.

Figure you’re the ’62 Mets. Your record is 40-120. Now imagine that, through some amazing disruption in the space-time continuum, you somehow wind up in the World Series.

Well, the Allentown Hibernians are hardly in the same league as the ’62 Mets, universally regarded as the worst team in Major League history. Still, they’re the closest thing to an expansion team the Irish sport of hurling has to offer—in that, not all that many months ago, many of the team members had never even played the game before. They’ve played only two games, both against the Junior “C” Philadelphia Shamrocks, and they’ve lost both. And yet, because there are so few teams playing the sport in the U.S., they’ll get a shot at a local championship—and maybe something even bigger down the road.

Pretty cool, huh?

Allentown’s Jeff Purtell is looking forward to the next match-up against the Shamrocks, scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start at Cardinal Dougherty High School, 6301 N. 2nd Street, in the city’s Olney section.

“We’ve only played two games so far but we have practicing and scrimmaging two-three days a week,” says Purtell. “Our record is 0-2 but we’re steadily improving our skills. We’ll have portable Gaelic games goalposts in a few weeks and are making tentative plans to play Pittsburgh—possibly in a neutral location. They are another newly-formed hurling club in Pennsylvania.”

The Shamrocks’ Frank O’Meara likewise eagerly anticipates the weekend pairing. “We can never take them for granted as they have a fine team and are very competitive,” he says. “Our next game will be very close and only the gods can predict who will win.”

Despite the Shamrocks’ two victories, O’Meara notes that his team is also pretty new to hurling. “The Shamrocks Hurling club is made up of two teams: one, largely experienced, and the other, new players that are from the Philly area. While the Shamrocks (as an organization) have been around for a while, the Shamrocks team that plays against Allentown are all-American lads and, for the majority, this is the first year for them to play hurling.”

The upshot? The Hibos could surprise you. (In a way that the ’62 Mets never could have.)

Regardless of who wins this Sunday, August 3 and in the local championship game August 10, both teams will go on to play in the Boston suburb of Canton at the North American Championship August 29-31. “The Philly 1 and Philly 2 teams (Hibernians and Shamrocks) in the schedule will be determined after the outcome of the championship game. Including preliminary games in Canton, we could be playing Chicago, St. Louis, or Indianapolis in our first game at NACB (North American County Board) Championships.

“The championship game will be a great experience as we prepare for the NACB GAA Championships. It should prepare us for a higher level of competion against other teams across the U.S.”

Also playing this Sunday will be the Shamrocks Junior A team (mostly Irish-born). They’ll be up against the the D.C. Gaels Junior “A” team for the Joe Lyons Cup Championship.