USGAA’s Historic All-Ireland Junior Football Team: Cultivating Future Talent
- John O’Brien, Jr.
- August 1, 2024
- Edited 3 months ago
Table of Contents
USGAA County Team Sows the Seeds for Future Players
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organization, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports of football, hurling, and camogie, as well as handball, the Irish language, and more.
TAKING THE FIELDS OF GLORY
VINCENT BEACH
est. 2006
OF SERVICE WITH 6 YEARS
USGAA County Team Sows the Seeds for Future Players
United States GAA (USGAA), the organization that manages Gaelic games in the U.S. (excluding New York City), will enter a team in the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship tournament for the first time, with games taking place in Ireland in mid-July.
While thousands of Irish, Irish Americans, and other nationalities play the sport across the country, the Jr All-Ireland Football team is made up of homegrown players, young men 18-28 born in the US, many of whom have come up from child level through youth and onto the adult game. The introduction of the Jr All-Ireland team now gives every child who starts the sport the opportunity to one day represent the USGAA – development at its finest.
The process to select the team began in Chicago in October 2023, with 80 players arriving for a weekend of games. From that, an interim panel of 36 was selected. Through a series of camps in Tampa (January) and Philadelphia (March), the final squad of 28 was selected.
There are over 160 GAA clubs throughout the USGAA region that welcome both men and women to join and continue the legacy of Gaelic games. More information can be found at www.USGAA.org.
