The road to A Coruña (Galicia, Spain) was long for every team, but the journey was well worth it! After 2 editions were cancelled, the “Pan Euros” European club championships, organised by the European federation Gaelic Games Europe, made a triumphant return to the city that was already due to host them in 2020. Of the 32 teams entered, no fewer than 6 had travelled from France. Despite dreadful weather that you wouldn’t put an Irishman out in, our teams turned in some very fine performances.
In the top division, only the Paris men were entered this year. Drawn in the group of death with reigning champions Madrid (who would go on to win the competition again) and eventual finalists Warsaw, the task was a hard one for Paris, who finished 3rd in their group. They had no more luck in the classification match against Berlin (winners of the 15-a-side European championship in 2019), against whom they lost by just 2 points. Paris nonetheless came out with heads held high after facing the best on the continent.
Among the women, there were no French representatives in D1 (senior), where Belgium (Brussels) confirmed their total dominance of the European scene (13th victory in the last 14 editions) against their Warsaw rivals. Our 2 teams, Paris (joined notably by Brest players) and Nantes, were entered in the Intermediate category (Division 2) where, after mixed fortunes in the pool stage (2nd place for the Paris-led combined side, 3rd for Nantes), the results came. After winning a semi-final, the Paris women narrowly missed out on the cup, losing to Belgium’s B team (who thereby achieved an unprecedented D1-D2 double). The Nantes women were moved to the second draw of this Intermediate division and won the shield trophy, securing a fine 5th place.
But the big performance of the day came from the men’s 2nd division (Intermediate A), where the Nantes “bees” A team were entered. After a big win over Madrid B and then a defeat by the hosts Fillos de Breogan, Nantes beat Frankfurt in the semi-final before meeting Fillos de Breogan again in the final. A (0-6) 6-1 (0-1) win later, the Loire side added a new line to their honours list and became the 3rd French club to win this trophy (after Rennes in 2007 and Liffré in 2016 and 2018). Arnaud Vitrai was also named best player.
Finally, in the men’s 3rd division (Intermediate B/Junior), Brest, joined by their neighbours from Quimper, Saint-Brieuc and Lorient, reached the final, where they were narrowly beaten by the Galician side Irmandinhos A Estrada. The Nantes B team, in a combined side with Warsaw B, finished 4th (out of 8 teams entered) in the division.
And to top it all, let’s not forget our refereeing lead and vice-treasurer Brieuc Henry, who also made the trip to referee: a chance to thank the referees and to remind everyone that without referees, there are no matches.
The results of our French clubs:
Senior Men:
Pool B:
Paris (2-4) 10-18 (3-9) Madrid
Paris (0-5) 5-19 (3-10) Warsaw
5th place match:
Berlin (2-4) 10-8 (1-5) Paris
Intermediate Women:
Pool A:
Paris combined side (0-3) 3-7 (2-1) Fillas de Breogan (A Coruña)
Paris combined side (2-4) 10-1 (0-1) Irmandinhas A Estrada
Jersey (0-1) 1-27 (6-9) Paris combined side
Pool B:
Nantes (1-2) 5-10 (2-4) Auriense/Herderias combined side (Galicia
Belgium B (2-3) 9-8 (2-2) Nantes
Classification match (5th place, shield)
Nantes (0-6) 6-2 (0-2) Jersey
Semi-final:
Paris combined side (0-5) 5-4 (0-4) Auriense/Herderias combined side (Galicia)
Final:
Belgium B (5-1) 16-9 (1-6) Paris combined side
Intermediate A Men:
Pool:
Nantes A (5-8) 23-2 (0-2) Madrid B
Fillos de Breogan (A Coruña) (1-4) 7-3 (0-3) Nantes A
Semi-final:
Nantes A – Frankfurt (result unknown)
Final
Fillos de Breogan (A Coruña) (0-1) 1-6 (0-6) Nantes A
Intermediate B/Junior Men:
Incomplete results
Brest 18-0 Independiente/Lume combined side
Brest 3-2 Jersey
Irmandinhos A Estrada 5-4 Brest
Semi-final:
Brest 2-1 Turonia (won on a shoot-out by 1 point)
Final:
Irmandinhos 8-6 Brest