GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 23 – April 10, 2015 | Page 14

DRESDEN, GERMANY
DRESDEN FRIENDLY
March 28, 2015

BY DIARMUID KELLY

On Saturday, March 28th, Dresden GAA hosted a
friendly Gaelic Football and Hurling tournament at
the Ostragehege Sportspark.
Some 40 players from many different nationalities
were on hand with clubs such as the Prague Hibernians and Berlin GAA making the trip to the eastern German city of Dresden.
Gaelic Sports are new to the city as Dresden Hurling
got going with initial practice and training sessions
in 2012, before last May saw the very first game of
hurling take place when a visiting team from Ireland played the new club. Last October, Dresden
hosted its first mini tournament with teams from
Budapest, Prague and Berlin playing both Hurling
and Gaelic Football. Over 60 players competed and
it is hoped that the tournament can be turned into
a yearly end of year event. The young Dresden club
draws on participants from Ireland as well Finland,
Canada, England, Canada and local German born
players.
In Gaelic football, Prague and Berlin were greeted
by bright sunshine in two evenly matched games.
Experience held out though with the newly formed
Berlin GAA bravely succumbing to a strong and
tightly knit Hibernians team who relied on their
short game passing game to get the job done.

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Berlin and Prague then assembled a team of eager first
timers and experienced Irish men to take the field
against the hosts Dresden Hurling, who as it were, also
fielded a relatively inexperienced team.
But playing nine a