Coffee Morning at The Roasterie Cafe

With our tournament only a week away, June 26th, The KCGAC green-machine spent the morning at The Roasterie Cafe in Brookside to spread the word.

A big thanks to Scott, Angie, Kurtis, Ryan, Chelsea and Paige for getting up early and showing your support for The KCGAC. 

It was a nice and relaxing morning enjoying tasty beverages and pastries hanging out chatting to people. I was surprised that several people we met were already aware of Gaelic Football and were excited to hear that we have a local club. So hopefully we'll get a good crowd down at Swope Park next Saturday.

The Roasterie will be on site at the tournament providing iced coffees with their silver bullet air-stream. And if the heat is anything like last year, we'll all need a little something to cool down.

Rumble in the Rock 2010

Another Memorial Weekend in Little Rock for the KCGAC and a near identical finish to last year: 2 and 2.

We beat NW Arkansas twice and lost, not by much mind you, to LR and St. Louis.

The lads had a great time traveling down there, some had more fun than others, no names mentioned.

Next year we need to start a push early for the trip to LR to get as much of The KCGAC as possible down there and show them what we are made off.

We can get revenge in, oh say, 23 days!

KCGAC at Community America Ballpark

Not quite Croke Park, but the Kansas City Wizards let us take to the field after their game against Columbus Crew at Community America Ballpark. This is the biggest venue the KCGAC has played in to date and it was an amazing experience. 

The speed of the ball on a professional surface like that is something you can't understand until you've played on it yourself. That's no excuse for my lack of fitness, but Chr*#t it was hard going in that early summer heat. Made me feel all 32 of my years.

We all had a great day out there on Sunday at C.A.B. and a lot of the lads got there early to watch The Wizards in action. A big THANK YOU to Betsy Pollard and Chris Wyche for helping to make the day possible. And if they'll have us back, maybe we can turn this into an annual event and get all the Irish community out.

Jerron Taylor, James Taylor and Brad Gaughan...Brad in mid-air still not as tall a Big Taylor

The KCGAC easy to spot in the crowd

Craig and Jeanne Rohner, two of our greatest fans. They've watched us play in Little Rock, our home tournament, pub league, Ran the Wellie Race with us, shoveled snow at the Twin Cities game and here they are supporting us at The Wizards and they took most of these photos and videos. The KCGAC hearts U!

Big Ross on the ball

Ross Vs Teasdale...who gonna win

 Brad, Jake and Carl go for the ball

KCGAC Volunteers at The Wizards - May 15th

The KCGAC got up early on Saturday morning and headed out to Community America Ballpark to help with The Wizards inaugural Soccer Day 5k to benefit Autism Speaks and The Kansas City Soccer Foundation.

At 6:30 am the sky looked like it was going to open up and spoil the fun, but mother nature held off and the run started with just a drizzle of rain.

Breakfast of Champions - Their mascot Dynamo nibbles on a young runner

Everyone was having a good time getting ready for the run

Wizards player Jimmy Conrad crosses the line with his daughter and help from Dynamo

High-Fives all round for a race well run

KCGAC player Jake Yardich is also The Wizards videographer

After the run it was time to go home and take a nap, 'cause we were back at Community America Ballpark later that night for the game against Chicago Fire. This time we were not so lucky with the rain and the heavens opened up, making for a very soggy night.

The Wizards played great and held Chicago to a 2-2 game even with the rain lashing down and we had a great night of volunteering. A big Thank You to Brad, Leslie, Vince and George for representing The KCGAC in the community.

Our relationship with The Wizards is like having a big brother, a big brother that is a professional soccer club with his own stadium: a great relationship. We'll be at The Wizards again next week and after the game the KCGAC are going to take to the field to play a demo-game. We hope the rain stays away and we hope to see you there.

The Unsung Hero of Gaelic Games

Our Referee most days: Mr. Chad Griffin

When the ball goes wide, when you get a hard challenge and don't get a free, when you miss kick the ball, when you give a bad hand pass, when you run out of energy and gasp for breath: You blame the Ref.

That's right, the guy who is out there of his own goodness officiating YOUR game, so YOU can have fun and play Gaelic games and all you want to do is tell this fella where to stick it. So, today all us hot headed players are going to cool it and show respect for the man that makes tournaments happen and keeps friendly games friendly. All hail the Ref.

Here's some refs in the spotlight:

Haskell Game - A great night in Lawrence, KS

The second annual KCGAC Vs Haskell University Gaelic Football challenge match was a huge success for all involved. Both sides fielded strong teams and showed great skill and athleticism. 

We want to say a big THANK YOU to their teacher Hugh from Mayo and all the students for hosting the KCGAC.

After my injury in practice I was relegated to the sidelines on camera duty. So here's a sample of the shots I took, I've got a bunch more I will post to the website and facebook page.

It's not often that Carl gets out-paced, but this guy gave our team hell, we need to draft him

A physical game...

T'is but a scratch

Taylor takes to the air

 We're all looking forward to next year's game and hope to see some of the Haskell players at our practice, they'd make a great addition to our team.

KCGAC at Haskell University

It's on like Donkey Kong. We had to cancel the game on the 14th, but it has been rescheduled for April 21st at 7pm. We will be playing in the University's football stadium.

Last year under Una Meabh's coaching Haskell put on a great show, especially in the second half as legs got tired and youth began to wear down Old-Man-Strength. This year they have a new coach and some new players, so we don't know what to expect.  All we know is that it's going to be a great night of Gaelic in Lawrence. 

We are very lucky to have a University so close to us with a Gaelic Football program and every Haskell player can count themselves as an honorary member of the KCGAC.

Here's some photos of the first night we went down to Haskell in October 2008.

This picture was taken in 1936

Devin looks on at the action

And again, Devin looks on at the action (just kidding Dev)

Weinbaum on the ball

You don't take the ball from BIG TAYLOR

This time it's gonna be bigger and better, bring it on...come on

Sevens Tournament was a Huge Success

It didn't snow, it didn't rain, it wasn't freezing...not sure if we're in Kansas anymore Toto.

The Irish gods were smiling upon us and we had the most perfect March day for our KCGAC Sevens tournament. Director Sully divided the club up into the four Provinces of Ireland and we had a round-robin first and then knock-outs for the championship position.

Connaught 3-5 Vs Leinster 1-0...Winner Connaught

Munster 2-4 Vs Ulster 1-5...Winner Munster

Connaught 1-9 Vs Munster 2-3...Winner Connaught

Ulster 2-3 Vs Leinster 1-3...Winner Ulster

Munster 2-3 Vs Leinster 2-7...Winner Leinster

Ulster 0-1 Vs Connaught 4-5...Winner Connaught

CHAMPIONSHIP

WINNER Connaught

Instead of having a 3rd and 4th place playoff, we combined some of the lads from the other teams to give the finalists a few extra subs to help the tired and weary legs after so many games in a row.

It was great craic and we even had a few fans down at Swope Park cheering us on. Best of all this year, we were injury free.

 A quick stretch before the tournament

The local PD were there to keep an eye on the club treasures

Devin warms up with the Aussie Rules lad

Drake got down on his knees and prayed for the win

Sully's ringer from Rosscommon

The final seconds of the Final, it could have gone either way, very close

Carl looks for the catch

Kieran hold Brandon off, as he makes for another point from the 40 yard line

Ulster - KCGAC Sevens Champions 2010