A Huge thank you to O’Malleys Bar on Main St Seal Beach and the Auld Dubliner in Long Beach for their sponsorship of our new Polo Shirts. Thanks to Dave, Christy and Damien for always welcoming and accommodating us after the games. The team and management are forever grateful. If your in Seal Beach or Long Beach make sure to call in to either bars for great food and friendly atmosphere.

Several of our board members attended the annual USGGA convention in San Diego on November 12th and they were extremely lucky to walk away with winning the Website of the year for 2016. Our new website was launched in February, so this is a huge achievement for the club. Remember you can keep up to date on all the Wild Geese events at www.wildgeesegfc.org

We are proud to share that our Club President Kevin Mac Donnell was honored at the USGAA convention on November 12th 2017 in San Diego. Kevin has been with the Wild Geese for many decades, so it is without doubt that this award was long over due. Thank you for your constant support and commitment to the Club and the GAA. Congratulations Kevin from everyone here at the club.

The Wild Geese players and management are heading to Seattle this memorial weekend to take part in what is expected to be an enjoyable and competitive NAC finals tournament.

You can keep up to date with fixtures and results on their facebook page. All the best to everyone participating in the tournament!

The second round of our Southland Cup vs the Culver City Cougars took place on June 11th at
2.30pm in Saint John Bosco’s Field in Long Beach. With the sun hidden away for a few hours by the
overcast clouds and the brand new SJB field in pristine condition the scene was set for another
wonderful day of Gaelic Football in Southern California. The Cougars once again arrived in large
numbers with competition for places in their squad one of their strongest traits. The Geese were
dealt their first blow of the day before a ball had been thrown in as we failed to secure a referee in
time for the Game so manager Tony McCarthy had to take over the reins and we lost our presence
on the touchline.

The game got underway in good time with two extremely strong teams taking the field even with both
sides missing a number of players. The Geese started strongly and were first on the scoreboard with
a fine score from Nic Turkington, however the Cougars began to come into the game and started to
control midfield, clean ball was hard to come by for the Geese and the Cougars racked up a number
of scores from powerful runs through the midfield. With approx. 20 minutes gone the Cougars led by
8 points to 3. Then two killer goals in quick succession before half time meant the Geese had it all to
do in the second half. A much more spirited second half performance from the Geese put pressure
on the Cougars, however the damage done in the first half proved a mountain too big to climb. Final
Score Wild Geese 1-15 Cougars 4-19. Congrats to the Cougars on a good win. The Southland cup
is now tied at 1 game apiece.

Team: T. Leahy, R. Minahan, J. Connolly; C. McCarthy, T. Dolan, J. Daly; S. McGiver, P. Cole; D.
O’Brien, N. Turkington, D. Mackey; C. Maclinney, E. Crowley; Subs: D. Listowel, G. Boccarra, M.
McGovern, J. Lambert, J. Quigley.

Scorers: E Crowley (0-4), N Turkington (1-3), D Listowel (0-2), S McKiver (0-2), D O’Brien (0-1), T
Dolan (0-1), P Cole (0-1), J Daly (0-1)

Thank you to the Auld Dubliner in Long Beach who hosted the teams after the game provided food
and entertainment. Thanks guys.

Co Clare was well represented at the West Coast 7’s GAA tournament held in San Diego

 
Manager Tony Mc Carthy has been hitting the headlines in his home county. 

The West Coast 7’s is one the prestigious G.A.A. tournaments outside Ireland, run similar to many tournaments in Ireland such as the Kilmacud Sevens. Teams travel from all over the United States and Canada to play in the competition from cities such as Chicago, Austin, Calgary, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Manager Tony Mc Carthy

Consisting of hurling, gaelic football, ladies football and camogie, the tournament is extremely popular with the Irish abroad and the Banner County had a big role to play in this year’s competition.

Tony McCarthy from Killaloe was the successful manager of the Los Angeles Wild Geese junior football outfit who won the Junior Football 7’s championships. Tony has been one the main members of the Geese both as a player and now as a manager and was a member of the Wild Geese who won the All-Ireland Sevens in the 1980’s.
The Wild Geese beat a strong Austin outfit which contained Kilmaley brothers Conor and Dermot Neylon, the brothers were instrumental in getting the Austin team to the final with superb displays in the group stages.

With such a large Clare involvement with the Gaelic Games, great praise is due to these expatriates  for their role in promoting the game on an international scale.

Read the full report here in the Clare Herald.

The Wild Geese set a number of targets at the start of 2016 and winning the West Coast 7’s was one of them, and we did exactly that. Below were the two groups in the competition and the Wild Geese Panel that traveled on the day.

Game 1 vs LA Cougars:
Our first game was vs old rivals the Cougars, the Cougars had taken the brave decision to bring down two men’s teams which meant that they had only 9 players for the panel. The game was quite edgy in the first few minutes but once the Geese got the first Goal we never looked back and ran out comfortable winners on a score line of 5-4 to 0-2.

Game 2 vs Seattle Gaels:
Similarly to the first game this one started slowly, the Geese went two pints up in the first 4-5 minutes but initially found it difficult to break down the Seattle defence, however after Tim Courtney from Dublin burst through the defence and nearly burst the net with a ferocious shot the Geese never looked back and went on to win 2-7 to 0-4. The Geese had now qualified for the Semi Finals.

Game 3 vs San Diego Setanta:
In a game of little significance as both teams would contest the semifinal the following day anyway, it was nonetheless the best day of the game. An extremely tight game right until the final minute when Tim was pipped at the post to get what would have been the winning goal to Damien o Brien hitting the cross bar with the last kick of the game, it was nail-biting stuff, however the Geese could not find the winner and the game ended 1-8 to 1-7 in favor of San Diego.

Semi Final vs San Diego Setanta:
In a rematch of the day before the Geese took on San Diego in the semifinals on a wet Sunday morning in their home field. The game like the one the day before was extremely tight. The Geese played excellent football in the first half, almost perfecting the game plan that they had brought to the 7’s, Nic Turkington from Down kicked a couple of fine points before Damien O Brien of Donegal latched onto a broken ball and drove it into the net to give the Geese a 4 point lead at half time. The second half was once again nail-biting stuff as San Diego drove forward looking to close the gap, however the Geese defence held strong and played the ball around to ensure that we held on. Final score Geese winners 1-6 to 0-7. We were in the final!

Final vs Austin Celtic Cowboys:
The Geese were now in the Final and would take on the 2015 winners Austin. Austin were unbeaten so far in the competition and presented some very strong opposition. However the Geese gave a masterful and disciplined performance from start to finish, unlike in the Semifinal were we played to 100% in the first half and then let San Diego back in in the second half we never gave Austin an opportunity, leading form start to finish. Some excellent fielding form Shea and Tim and a masterful display from the fullback line as well as awesome scoring from Nick meant we ran out winners on a score line of 2-8 to 0-8. We are champions!

Well done to all the players and management on a fantastic weekend, after beginning training in January 9th, and completing 27 grueling sessions and going over and over our game plan in the weeks before the game it all eventually paid off. A massive thank you also to the management team of Tony McCarthy and Eoin Crowley and also to our cheerleaders Michelle and Michaela for some lovely ham sandwiches!!