The Two oldest Lancashire Clubs Battle it out for the Championship
The Lancashire Senior Football Championship saw two of the oldest GAA Clubs battle it out for the win. The Lancashire Championship is a 9 Team Tournament and is played as a single game knockout cup.
Preliminary Round
The 2015 Preliminary Round between Ellan Vannin and St.Patricks of Chester was played out on the Isle of Man. The Manx side emerged victorious, winning the tight fought battle 3-4 to 1-4 and thus advances to the Lancashire Quarterfinals, where they played 2015 Top Seed St. Brendan’s. However, the Victory came at a high cost, with the team losing four players to injury in their Championship opener, among them Fullback FB 164, who contributed with a goal on the day. Additionally, the team lost 2 Halfbacks and a Half-forward, thereby strongly decimating the team for their Quarterfinal Matchup. St. Patricks also lost three players to injury, leading to an extensive Loss of Scoring prowess, which certainly contributed to the early tournament exit.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
Ellan Vannin Gaels
3-4
St Patrick's
1-4
Quarter-Finals
The first Quarterfinal saw St. Brendan’s GAA Club hosting Isle of Man side Ellan Vannin. St. Brendan’s simply overran their guests, who went into the match heavily depleted by injury, with 3-16 to 1-4. Despite the easy win, the Home side will go into the Semi-Final without their starting Midfielders, after losing one to Injury and one to a Red Card. Additionally, The Team lost a Half Forward, but was spared the fate of the Manx Side that committed 7 Disciplinary infringements.
In the second Quarter Final, Wolfe Tone’s defeated St. Lawrence’s 2-6 to 0-5 in a tight contest that saw the Home side (St. Lawrence’s) struggle through two injuries, while Wolfe Tone’s lost 2 players to Disciplinary infringements. They advanced to the Semi-Final, however and despite the losses on the attacking side of the ball, were hoping to mount a strong challenge for the Lancashire GAA Championship Final.
The third Quarterfinal between St.Anns and CLG Oisin saw the guests emerge victorious (2-5 to 1-12 for CLG Oisin). 4 injuries for the Home Side didn’t seem to limit St Ann’s offensive prowess as they scored two goals, yet they did certainly impact the sides performance in the latter stages of the game, allowing CLG to claim Victory and advancing to the Semi-Final.
The Final Game of the Quarter Finals saw John Mitchel’s defeating St. Peter’s by a score of 0-16 to 0-9. The Match turned ugly for the home side (St. Peter’s), who conceded two red cards in the backline, yielding automatic 2 game suspensions for the players involved. However as the club failed to make the semi-final stage, said cards won’t take an impact as suspensions aren’t carried on to the next season. John Mitchell’s also lost 1 player to a black card, but a potential final berth could see the team at full strength.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
St. Brendan's
3-16
Ellan Vannin
1-1
St. Lawrence's
0-5
Wolfe Tone's
2-6
St Ann's
2-5
CLG OÃsin
1-12
St. Peter's
0-9
John Mitchell's
0-16
Semi-Finals
St. Brendan’s hosted John Mitchells for the first Semi-Final of the Lancashire GAA Championship. The Home side took a convincing 2-9 to 2-6 Victory to advance to the Final at Old Bedians. However, the Victory proved costly as the team lost two players to injury and two to Black Card infringements, ruling all of them out for the final. John Mitchell’s played a fair game and emerged from the Game at full strength. This is little consolation however, as the club’s Championship season was cut short.
The second Semi-Final saw Wolfe Tone’s loosing at home to CLG OÃsin 0-7 to 1-9. OÃsin thus advances to the Final and will take on St. Brendan’s GAA for the Lancashire GAA Title at Old Bedians. However, much like St. Brendan’s OÃsin had costly losses in the semi Finals, with 2 Fullbacks red carded and two further players lost to injury.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
St. Brendan's
2-9
John Mitchell's
2-5
Wolfe Tone's
0-7
CLG OÃsin
1-9
FINAL
The much anticipated Final between St. Brendan’s and CLG Oisin lived up to the expectations, with the two teams separated by a single goal (2-10 to 1-10) in St. Brendan’s favour. Both Teams were drawing heavily from their backups, with 4 starters missing on either side. St. Brendan’s conceded several disciplinary infringements (2 red cards, 1 black) while CLG Oisin showed more discipline, despite conceding a black card themselves. The St.Brendan’s Team additionally had to overcome some severe injuries to take the title to qualify for the All-Britain Interclub Championship, while CLG OÃsin will compete in the preliminary rounds in a bid for Interclub qualification. However, should the side show the same kind of discipline as in recent weeks, they are to be counted as one of the favourites for a Interclub Championship qualification spot.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
St. Brendan's
2-10
CLG Oisin
1-10
Champion
Note: Something that I have learned from this Championship is that the amount of disciplinary infractions and the amount of Injuries is too high, with multiple injuries and red & Black Cards on either side. I will tweak this issue in the database, after having already adjusted some of the game "settings" half way through the Lancashire Champs. Obviously I am still Ironing out some bugs, but I will (hopefully) get this bug sorted before the next county Championship.
The Gloucestershire GAA Championship saw Plymouth Parnell's emerge victorious from the three round tournament.
Quarterfinals
The first of two quarterfinals saw the match-up between St. Nicholas of Bristol and St. Colmcilles of Cardiff go head to head. The Welsh side proved to be too strong for Bristol, outscoring them 3-9 to 1-7. The attendees saw a clean and very fair match from both sides until late in the game when the home side conceded a Red Card. Cardiff thus advanced to the semi-final stages of the tournament to face St. Pats from Gloucester.
The second match of the first round saw the second Bristol Club, Western Gaels, travel to Plymouth to take Parnell's. The trip was anything but fruitful, as Plymouth outscored the Gaels by 2-11 to 1-8. Despite the loss of one of their half forwards due to a black card, Plymouth used the quarterfinal as a starting point for a successful and high scoring campaign and advanced to the semi-finals to take on Bournemouth side St. Judes.
The early exit for both Bristol Teams means that they place 5th and 6th in the championship and will therefore face away fixtures in the opening round of the 2016 tournament.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
St. Nicholas
1-7
Cardiff St. Colmcilles
3-9
Plymouth Parnells
2-11
Western Gaels
1-8
Semi-Finals
The semi-final round saw number 1 seed St.Pats of Gloucester take on Welsh Side Cardiff St. Colmcilles. Cardiff mounted a hard challenge in a bid for the Gloucesterhire senior Football final and All-Britain Qualification. However, their efforts fell short as St. Pats narrowly defeated the visitors by a score of 3-11 to 3-9. Despite the loss, Cardiff will finish the championship in 3rd place, securing a home fixture for the preliminary round in 2016 due to points difference in their semi-final loss.
The second semi-final saw St. Judes of Bournemouth host Plymouth Parnells. The homeside went in with expectations of sure-fire Final berth, but a Black Card for one of their best players severely limited their potential to win the game. Plymouth on the other hand, showed great discipline and ultimately outscoring the homeside 5-14 to 2-18 to advance to the Gloucestershire final.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
St.Pats
3-11
Cardiff St. Colmcilles
3-9
St. Judes Bournemouth
2-18
Plymouth Parnells
5-14
Final
The Final saw St. Pats take on Plymouth Parnells to decide the Gloucestershire Championship and direct birth in the All-Britain Interclub Championship Tournament. The initial matchup between both teams ended in a draw (both on a total of 18 points), requiring a rematch to decide the championship. The rematch ended on a positive note for Plymouth Parnells with the club outscoring St.Pats 3-8 to 1-8. St. Pats conceded a black card in the loss which hampered their chances at a comeback to take the title. Nontheless, the St.Pats qualified for the All-Britain interclub Championship preliminary rounds which allows them a shot at an All-Britain Berth, while Plymouth Parnells have to be seen as one of the the hottest favourites for the national club title due to their high scoring offensive style of playing during the Gloucestershire Championship Campaign.
The 2015 Hertfordshire Champion has been crowned following a three round single elimination playoff championship with the same format as the Gloucestershire Championship.
Quarterfinals
The "quarterfinals saw the four lowest seeds take on each other. In the first game Eire Og of Oxford was defeated by St. Colmcilles of St. Albans. St. Albans was the dominating team in the match but failed to score a goal and showed massive problems in conversions. Additionally, the side suffered a huge blow to their campaign, having one of their Half Forwards sent off with a red card. Despite that, the St.Albans advanced to the semi Final by a 1-point margin (1-6 to 0-10 the score).
The second quarter final saw a shoot out between St. Josephs of Waltham Cross and Cambridge Parnells. Cambridge were outscored on points, but the team showed great composure and some intense offensive prowess scoring 4 goals to claim the game with a score of 4-8 to 1-13.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
Eire Og
1-6
St. Colmcilles
0-10
St. Josephs
1-13
Cambridge Parnells
4-8
Semi-Finals
The semi-Finals stage saw the entry of 2015 top seeds Glen Rovers of Watford and Saint Dympnas from Luton.
Glen Rovers hosted St Colmcilles, defeating the St. Albans side by four points to advance to the final (1-14 to 2-7). The loss of their Half Forward in the Quarterfinal hurt St. Albans in points scoring, however the teams Bainisteoir saw a much improved performance, with his players scoring 2 goals. A second red card in as many weeks did not help st. Albans bid and the team appears to have serious disciplinary problems that need to be corrected for the next season. Watford lost star full forward FF 79 to a severe injury in the red card incident, which was eventually going to cost them dearly in the tournament.
The second match saw Cambridge Parnells continue their good run from the preliminary round and defeating St. Dympnas 2-8 to 1-7. The match was remarkably uneventful. St. Dympnas thus exits the tournament despite of high hopes of making the final, while Cambridge Parnells, the County Boards youngest club, made their first ever final.
Home Team
Score
Away Team
Score
Glen Rovers
1-14
St. Colmcilles
2-7
St Dympnas
1-7
Cambridge Parnelss
2-8
Final
The final between Glen Rovers Watford and Cambridge Parnells proved to be yet another shootout in the Hertfordshire Championship. Cambridge surprised everyone by claiming their first title in the Hertfordshire championships with a score of 3-13 to 3-9. In the process, Cambridge had to overcome an injury to Goal Scoring Fullback FB 87 to not only claim the first title in the clubs history, but also a first bid in a All-Britain Club Tournament for the young club. Glen Rovers were the unlucky side in the match up but will have another chance at an All-Britain Berth when they enter the preliminary rounds of the All-Britain Tournament.
Hey Guys, I have decided to give the graphics for this forum thread another overhaul. This is mainly due to the fact that the creation of the jerseys takes an awful lot of time and Id much rather like to spend it on running the simulation (I have some nice little tid bits that I want to implement)...
Also, I dont know how many of you are reading this, but if you want to be part of the simulation, by for example lending a (or your) name to one of the players, I can make it more interactive, with Player Spotlights etc. That way, we its not just always an informative plain wall of text. It would be great to get this great community more involved. So if this is something that you guys would like, let me know as a comment, and Ill upload the DB, where you guys can choose 1 (or however many you want to name)
As for the implementation of Graphics, Ill make a user bar sort of graphic which should speed things up!
Also, The Yorkshire Champs are next!
Hey Guys, I know its been a while (again) but Ive been a little busy as of late. I had originally planned to post multiple championships by the 23rd of September (The day of the All-Ireland Football Final from which my Dubs emerged Victorious!!!) but illness prevented me from doing anything that weekend and since Ive been a little busy with college work. But, FINALLY here are the Yorkshire championships!!! Ill also be changing the whole reporting, to a single summary, instead of a round by round one, as those are very tedious for the county championships. At the end, i will however supply a graphic with all the results!
Yorkshire GAA
Hugh O'Neills wins Yorkshire title
Hugh O'Neills GAA of Leeds has ended their Yorkshire Championship Drought in 2015 by claiming the title against defending Champions St. Benedicts Harps.
The Leeds side opened their Championship season against Brothers' Pearse in the first round of the 6-team Yorkshire Championship. The winning Margin of 1-14 to 2-6 being no indication of the dominance of of Hugh O'Neills. Similarly JFK Leeds opened with a close 3-9 to 2-10 victory over Young Irelands to advance to the semi-finals, where they were drawn to play St. Benedicts Harps.
The Harps easily defeated JFK in the semis by a big 4-14 to 3-7 margin to advance to the final. Harps played a very well organised and well disciplined game, while too many individual mistakes cost JFK any chances for a win as the side conceded 2 yellow cards. Hugh O'Neills meanwhile took on Cu Chulainns, who as number 2 seed enjoyed a first round bye. However, the homeside found itself simply outmatched on the day by Hugh O'Neills who, despite a red card, took a 2-8 to 1-6 win on their way to the final.
The Final of the Yorkshire Championship thus saw a clash between the defending champion St. Benedicts Harps and last Years 4th place finisher Hugh O'Neills. Despite being favoured to win another Yorkshire Championship, St Benedicts could not overcome the challenge mounted by Hugh O'Neills and fell short by a score of 2-4 to 3-8. Hugh O'Neills Bainisteor announced his delight with the win, and also stated that he was looking forward to take part in the All-Britain interclub Championship.
