Claregalway Ladies flew the Galway flag high at last weekend’s 27th PhoneWatch Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé. The six competition tournament at junior, intermediate and senior level took place all over the Dingle Peninsula in wet and windy conditions and ranks as one of the biggest Gaelic football club gatherings in the world, attracting 36 international and Irish adult ladies and men’s Gaelic football clubs this year.
In the five team senior ladies competition, 2013 All Ireland intermediate club champions Claregalway had a blistering start by emphatically beating local side Corca Dhuibhne by 9-6 to 1-03. Confey of Kildare also beat the West Kerry side 5-13 to 0-2 before The Lillywhites club finally fell to Claregalway’s superior forwards led by captain Clodagh Cooney with the match ending 1-11 to 1-0.
South Kerry’s Southern Gaels got through to the final having beaten mid-Kerry side Castleisland 4-17 to 1-2 in a straight semi-final. Claregalway were a professionally run outfit from start to finish and brought a big panel on the trip to ensure freshness prevailed. In the final, Southern Gaels found scores hard to come by with Claregalway’s fullback Amy Rohan marshaling any threats with ease. The locals couldn’t manage Galway county star Megan Glynn at corner forward who amassed a personal tally of 4-2 and was later crowned player of the tournament. The Galway side proved far too strong winning out on a scoreline of 8-10 to 2-3.
Pádraig Óg Ó Sé said, ‘We are thrilled with the enthusiasm of teams to be involved in our tournament and keep my father’s spirit alive. We simply could not do this without the co-operation from local clubs who provided us with their pitches and we want to sincerely thank them for that.”
The festival has always championed the best of Irish photography in the form of an annual exhibition. Former Kerry great Daragh Ó Sé launched The Revolutionary Years exhibition this year, an exhibition of historic Kerry photographs from various sources and The Kerryman newspaper articles from the period 1913-22 which will be on display for two months at Páidí Ó Sé’s pub.
Ó Sé commented, “the Com órtas has always been about the craic and GAA camaraderie and it’s great to see teams and supporters from the UK and across Ireland coming to our part of the world and enjoy themselves. The Ó Sé’s are also grateful for the support of PhoneWatch and also Fáilte Ireland, sports club communications app Sportora, Lee Strand Milk and media partner Newstalk 106-108FM, without whom the weekend couldn’t go ahead”.
Claregalway team captain Clodagh Cooney with Pádraig Óg Ó Sé following their victory over Kerry’s Southern Gaels in the ladies senior final as part of the 27th PhoneWatch Comórtas Peile Páidí Ó Sé which took place last weekend all over the Dingle Peninsula.
