Year 6 Gaelic Football Tournament
Year 6 Gaelic Football Tournament
October 20, 2017
Year 6 Gaelic Football
Tournament
On Thursday morning of the 19th of October, Tír Chonaill Gaels hosted a Year 6 Schools Gaelic Football Tournament which involved both boys and girls combined. The Blitz was a massive success with over 200 children showing up to participate in the sport. A lot of children that arrived had never played football before but picked it up very quickly. 16 teams took part and put on a spectacle for everyone involved and onlooking. The results of games were not taken as the emphasis was on the enjoyment of playing Gaelic football and not trying to win.
Matches got underway at 10.30am. They consisted of three 5 minute thirds as the pitch was divided into 3 zones. There was a forward zone, midfield zone and a defending zone. Each team had 10 players with 3 playing in each zone at a time with one goalkeeper either end. After every 5 minutes, players swapped zones for all children to get to play in every position. Schools participating ranged from St. Dominic Salvio, St. Teresas, St. Raphaels, St. Johns, Annunciation, Larmenier, St. John Fisher, St. Bernadettes and St. Josephs.
4 groups of 4 were made out with each group designated to a different pitch. Each team in the group played each other once on the same pitch. This allowed teams to get as much time on the pitch to enjoy playing the sport. There were excellent performances on all pitches with the standard of football the highest the organisers had seen in recent years at these tournaments. This allowed for high scoring and free flowing football and made the referees lives much easier. The final score of each game was not taken as no winners were needed. Lunch time arrived at 12.30pm with the end of the group matches occurring and the players got a well needed break to recover to get back playing again.
Lunch finished at 1pm as matches got back underway again. Teams were matched up to play against each other from different groups. All teams got the opportunity to play an extra 2 games against opposition who were suited to similar abilities to keep the games enjoyable for all. Special mention would go out to teams of St. Dominic Salvio and St. Teresas who put in brilliant performances in the last game of the day with all schools onlooking and supporting until the end.
The day would conclude with a medal ceremony for all the players who participated. Each team lined up in their groups and one player from each went up to receive their medals for their fellow team mates. As each player went up group by group, a large round of applause was made and was very much deserved as the young stars of the day got their moment in the spotlight. It was a perfect way to end the day of a very well organised, enjoyable event for both players and organisers.