By John O’Brien, Jr.
The GAA Midwest Championships were hosted in Cleveland this year, and Lordy, the Cleveland teams and community rose to the occasion, with style, heart and grace, on the field and off. The Achill GAA football team and the Achill Pipe Band joined us for the tournament, and they could not have sent better ambassadors. A myriad of events allowed us to get to know the team, many of whom were literally cousins of team members present and past, or our Irish community.
We will report on the GAA National Championships, held this year in Denver, next month, but check out the pics page from the Midwest Championship weekend on our www.iirish.us website or Facebook page. Please follow, especially or Facebook, Instagram and opted-in only eBulletin, so we can share the wealth with our community, near and far, and share with potential advertisers our following and reach. We never share the list.
Congrats to all who made the championships such a success, including organizing committee members Vince Beach, Jake Altman, Michael Martin McNulty, Brian Holleran, Cavan Dickson, Michelle Beach and Dan Murray.
New Columnist Joins iIrish
Delighted to welcome new Irish Lit Columnist Dr. Jeanne Colleran, who begins writing for us each month on Irish Arts, Irish writers and more. Her debut column, The Druids Are Coming, is on page 16-17.
See the What’s the Craic?, Taking the Fields of Glory, and the last of the 2023 FANtastic Festival Focus issues within, for all craic, and the details too. There is so much more inside.
We wish to reiterate our congratulations to Sheila Murphy Crawford on her 45th Anniversary, not just teaching Irish dance, and her impact on those dancers, their families, and our community, but in the myriad of causes and other tangible events she has adopted and made exceptional. Cleveland and the Irish community far and wide, is better because of Sheila.
Under the Knife
Full recovery wishes to Terry from Derry’s Terry Boyle, sporting a new knee, as well as full recovery to Illuminations’ Mike Finn; Cleveland Irish’s Francis McGarry; iIrish Crossword’s Linda Burke, Éasca Péasca’s Marie Young, Speak Irish and Cleveland Comhrá’s Bob Carney and our Graphic Artist extraordinaire, Christine Hahn. I don’t know what has been in the whiskey, but may we all be bionic and bodacious by Labor Day.
See you at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival September 8-10. Please stop by the iIrish booth and say hello – we’ll share a pepsi or two, a cigar and our company as we toast how very blessed we are, to be Irish American, alive and in color.
Taking the Fields of Glory: USGAA Championships Gallery, Denver, CO. August 18-20, 2023
John O'Brien, Jr.
*John is a Founder and the Publisher and Editor of iIrish, an archivist, spokesman, emcee, Spoken Word presenter and author of five books, so far.
