Rheinderby 2nd edition – Düsseldorf GAA vs. Cologne Celtics

We were back on the field with our “frienemies”! On Saturday, 26.06.21, the second Rhein Derby took place in Düsseldorf. Let’s hope it won’t take so long until the next derby and we bring the trophy back to Cologne.

With that being said let’s pass the mic to our registrar Frank, who was also the referee today, with some wise words:

„Unfortunately, we were outclassed by Düsseldorf who played very well and were worthy winners. There is no need to go into detail with the precise score but with a very weakened team Cologne gave a decent account of ourselves, with many positives to work on in the next few weeks.

Firstly, a big thank to Malte for taking care of all the organisation. A lot of effort goes into even arranging a single match and the derby was really enjoyable.

Not to mention his excellent performance in goals. Just to be back wearing the Cologne jersey in a proper match was really a heartening feeling. So thanks a lot Malte and the others in the committee involved.

Shout outs to our new players

Although we have lost a lot of very strong footballers in the last years – old players are always replaced by new ones and players like Niall, Vangelis and Fred played very well today, showing leadership on the field against very tough opponents. An especially big shout out to Fred in his first match back after his difficult last few years with injuries. It was also great to have Flo back for a day. He is a tough footballer and we look forward (with some trepidation!!) to coming up against him in his Munich colours sometime this year.

Fair play to Eddie who showed his class when he was on the field, notwithstanding suffering a bit after his vaccine the day before the match. As well as his generosity in applying sun cream after the match 😉

Big shout out to the debutants today, Patrick who produced the best shoulder of the day as well as almost the most deadly shoulder of the day after throwing himself and thankfully missing some poor Düsseldorfer!

As far as I recall, it was big Jan’s formal debut as well, even if he seems like a club veteran at this stage. When there was a player exchange, he volunteered to play in Green of Düsseldorf and as we all know, it’s always nicer to play with your own teammates. So his sacrifice was appreciated.

Two ladies with their debut corner back

Big mention to our ladies out this day: Kat and Laura (also making a sterling debut corner back). Düsseldorf are a great example of a well consolidated Ladies football club and something we aspire to achieving in the next months and years.

Fair play to hurling stalwart Oisín for coming up from Bonn. His heart lies with the small ball but it’s this kind of commitment to the club, changing his plans last minute to make it up to play football which lies at the heart of this club.

And of course not to forget our photographer Steffi. We all look forward to the photos as always and are extremely grateful for them.

More training sessions and new drills to come

Thanks to our good friends and sometimes rivals Düsseldorf for the invitation and the very sporting match.

The gap between us has grown a bit over the last year and they have some brilliant footballers but with training and the return of our injured and absent players, the next match between us will be definitely much closer.

Thanks a lot to Paul !

(*Foy, from Düsseldorf, editor’s note)

Finally, in the trainers group we have come up with a range of training sessions and drills that we hope are interesting and will help us all develop as players.

So in conclusion, brilliant to be back on the field and it will be hopefully the first of many matches this year and the years to come, starting with Darmstadt next week. Thanks again to everyone who played and turned out at the Rheinderby. Forgive me if I forgot anyone, it was hard trying to referee and not lose my pencil!“

Köln Abú!

Frank O’Connor

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For more impressions of the second Rheinderby have a look at the gallery below:

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Photos by Steffi/penpaperstory

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