News

Leuven Tournament: Benelux Development 22.02.2025

On Saturday, 22.02.2025, a significant group of Celtics competed at the Benelux Development Football Tournament in Leuven. This tournament was another example of the significant steps our Gaelic footballers have taken in the last couple of years. Our group consisted of Oisín Brennan, Killian, Niall Cunningham, Niall Kavanagh, Tobias, „Handsome“ Dave, Michael, Clemens, and Connell.

Cologne Celtics 2024: Our Year

2024 was another incredible year for the Cologne Celtics GAA Club. Tournament victories – including the German Hurling Cup! – a trip to Ireland, incredible developments in Gaelic football, LGFA and camogie, rivalries renewed, friendships made, and many, many battles across Europe. In this article, our chairperson, Laura Kennedy, looks back at what was another…

Hurling and Camogie Development Day 2024 – October 26th

On Saturday, October 26th, Cologne Celtics welcomed Adrian Clancy to our pitch in Chorweiler, just north of Cologne, for a day’s intensive training. Organised by the GGE, the event’s logic was to get a high-profile hurling and camogie coach to not only train the players there on the day but also encourage and educate all…

Meet the Celtics: Svenja Hennecke

In this article, one of our top camogie stalwarts – Svenja Hennecke – shares some of the differences and surpising similarilites between camogie and her other passion, ballet. Svenja only started playing camogie last year but since then has become an ever-present member of the Celtics.

Snapshots from the 2024 Francie O’Connor Cup

On Saturday, March 16th, we held the second edition of the Francie O’Connor Cup competition in Bezirkssportanlage, Chorweiler. It was a busy day as we had six hurling teams – Cologne, Rhineland Gaels, Eindhoven, Leuven, Darmstadt and Annaghdown from Galway, Ireland – and three camogie teams with Eindhoven, Leuven and a Cologne/Darmstadt mix. Annaghdown (hurling)…

Cologne Celtics 2023: Our Year

2023 was an enormous year for the Cologne Celtics; as our club once again grew in membership, we competed in more tournaments than ever, launched our youth section and had many more incredible achievements. Here is an article written by our club chairperson, Laura Kennedy, that highlights some of these accomplishments.

Ger Cronin’s Marathon Stories

Ger Cronin is our club’s first youth officer and is also an experienced marathon runner and triathlete. In this article, he shares stories from five marathons he has completed. From his first marathon in Dublin to reaching the Holy Grail in Frankfurt, and returning to running in Paris, this makes for a great read!

FRS GAA World Games 2023: Jan Stolle’s Audio Diaries

What is it like to represent your country in an international sports tournament? This question is something that not many of us can answer. However, our man Jan Stolle kept an audio diary during the FRS GAA World Games 2023 in Derry, and here you can find out about his experiences.

Cologne Celtics Family Day 2023: 19th August 2023

Save the date! On 19 August 2023, the Cologne Celtics Gaelic Sports Club will host our first-ever Family Day. It will take place from 11am until 3pm. This event is free and open to non-club members as well as members. It promises to be a day full of fun and action for the whole family…

Dear Stephen,…

Stephen O’Rourke, our former club chairperson, is leaving Cologne and moving to Berlin to start a new adventure. In this article, his club mates decided to wish him well and write about their experiences of dealing with someone who has enormously influenced the club’s development.

A Celt at the BayArena: Bayer Leverkusen’s Lisburn Lad

Gareth Houston, our club Social and Social Media Officer, found his dream job last year, when he was given the chance to work for his German club – Bayer Leverkusen 04. This is the story of how a lad from Lisburn became a stadium tour guide at the BayArena and why you should do a…

February 1st -St. Brigid’s Day and the Celtic Festival Imbolc

The Ancient Celtic festival of Imbolg („Imbolc“ in English) is celebrated around the start of February. In more modern times, this festival almost coincides with „Lá Fhéile Bhríde“ or Saint Brigid’s Day (February 1st), the feast day for the female patron saint of Ireland. Traditionally, this festival marks the beginning of spring and is viewed…

Cologne Celtics 2022: Our Year

2022 was a special year for the Cologne Celtics. A busy year where a lot was achieved, and the groundwork was laid to develop further. Relive our 2022 with this Year Review.

ZDF-Training 26.11.2022

On November 26th 2022, the journalist Achim Winter came to Chorweiler and participated in our training session. The images were broadcast on the popular TV programme, „Hallo Deutschland“. We had a fantastic day of hurling and camogie.

A Celt at the Irish Embassy, November 5th 2022

On November 5th, 2022 the Cologne Celtics were represented at the Biennial Meeting of German-Irish Societies and Irish Cultural Organisations for the first time. Here we could present our club to other groups around Germany, and develop connections with them. This article is about what happened during the day.

Gaelic Sports für Frauen mit den Cologne Celtics

At the Cologne Celtics GAA Club, we are always looking for new players and members to join our team. In this piece, some of our female players describe their experience of playing camogie and Gaelic Football. This piece is in German and English.

How Laura met „Die Maus“

Living abroad can bring some unique experiences that simply would not be possible by remaining in your home country. This is the story of how Cologne Celt, Laura Kennedy, has had the opportunity to appear on one of the most popular and well-known children’s programmes in Germany, „Die Sendung mit der Maus“.

Live Irish Music Sessions in Cologne

Live Irish music sessions are now happening in Cologne! On June 6th 2022, some of our members went to the event in the Black Sheep Pub organised by our Irish Language and Cultural Officer, Gareth Houston. Here are some photos of the event and live recordings of the music.

Meet the Celtics: Johannes Heyen

It is time to meet another Celt, this time: Johannes Heyen. Johannes is one our most dedicated members – a regular at training and has played his part in Munich, our home tournament and, of course, the German Hurling Cup success. His interview is in both English and German.

The Warrior Women of Ireland

With International Women’s Day, we at the Celts decided to examine four extraordinary warrior women of Irish history and mythology. This article outlines the lives of a mythological warrior queen, a pirate chieftain, the „most dangerous woman in America“ and a political, soldiering and revolutionary countess. Enjoy!

Erasmus During a Pandemic: Our Players‘ Experiences

At the Celts, we have been boosted over the years by the presence of Erasmus students from Ireland and elsewhere. Many of our more experienced players are former-Erasmus students who also had the opportunity to study and work in Germany as students. Erasmus is a time to discover, travel and socialise but how does that…

Interview with Irish Footballer Noe Baba

Meet Noe Baba. He’s Cameroonian and Irish, and he plays football for KFC Uerdingen 05. In this interview, we discussed moving from Cameroon to Castlebar, playing professionally in Ireland, England and Germany, and his experience of living in Cologne, including during the lockdown. A big Mayo fan, we also delved into his experience of playing…

Cologne Celtics 2021: Our Year

2021 was a big year for the Cologne Celtics. Tournaments, matches, training, social events, charity fundraising, new sponsors – we packed a lot into 12 months. Read about it here!

Meet the Celtics: Cillian O’Gara

Meet Cillian O’Gara. Cillian is now back home in Ireland but he was a key man in our development as a club. A passionate Gaelic footballer, Cillian established himself as one of our dual stars during his time with us.

Irish Links to Halloween

Halloween is a huge celebration around the world, and is one with deep Irish links. This article examines Halloween’s connections to the Celtic festival of „Samhain“ and other traditions with Irish/Celtic connections.

GAA Links to Political Careers in Ireland

In this article by guest author, Ferdia O’Mahony, we examine the links between Irish politics and the GAA in Ireland. Find out about how an inter-county playing career, or other involvement with the GAA, has helped Irish politicians get elected.

Meet the Celtics: Seán Fuchs

Meet our international handball player – Seán Fuchs. He’s half-Irish, half-German and 110% a County Monaghan man. We caught up before the Ulster Final clash to discuss his experiences with the Celtics, Gaelic football, handball, his studies and more.

Meet the Celtics: Marnix from Holland

It is time for our only Dutch teammate – Marnix van der Galien. Have a look how he came to the Domstadt and a sneak peak of „Dutch war fries“, a very delicious Dutch food.

Meet the Celtics: Katharina from Cologne

In our interview series we take the time to get to know our players and members and get a little insight into their lives. This time: Katharina, not only a dear member but also our Public Relations Officer.

Corona Discoveries: The Joy of Jogging

It has been a year unlike any before for most of us. One year of a pandemic that changed the life of so many. The Celts decided to get involved with Darmstadt GAA’s initiative #NoLazyHurl. That was the start of discovering the joy of running for a lot of us. So let me take you…

Cork – a Partner City of Cologne

For Oisín O’Mahony, Cork is the true capital of Ireland (although some team mates might see it differently). Here he talks about his hometown with its many pubs, about sporting successes – and there’s a bit of slang in it too.

Meet the Celtics: Bernadette Keohane

In our interview series we take the time to get to know our players and members and get a little insight into their lives. This time we have our first female interview: Meet Bernadette from Cork (baiiiii!) who has some funny stories to tell!