Kategorie-Archive: News

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 great year for the club.

From Cologne to Limerick – the Long-Awaited Return Trip to Monagea – October 2024

Two months ago, a few Celts made their way to the Emerald Isle, specifically Monagea in West Limerick. Home of one of our coaches and the most passionate person when it comes to hurling that I know (personally, at least), Frank. After he brought his home club over to Cologne for the first edition of our now-annual Francie O’Connor Cup, the time had come to pay the return visit.

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 the coaches and potential coaches present in order to further develop the GAA across Europe.

European Hurling /Camogie Championship Round 4: Vienna– 07/09/2024

The fourth round of the European hurling and camogie championship brought our players to Vienna. As is usual on the European level, this tournament brought teams and players from all over the continent together for these fantastic sports. We didn’t have enough players to field our team, so we saw our hurlers teaming up with Eindhoven while our camogie players teamed up with Luxembourg. Fierce hurling and camogie battles ensued on a hot late summer’s day, and our players represented the Celtics‘ badge with skill and class throughout.

European Hurling /Camogie Championship Round 3: Munich – 06/07/2024

Munich was our next port of call for our tournament excursions with the third round of the European Hurling and Camogie Championships 2024. We sent a full camogie team while our hurlers joined up once again with our friends from Leuven for the day.

Laura, Kat, Killian, Oisín Brennan, Eoin, Jan, Sebastian, Anto, Alanna, Alex, Annie, Annika, Svenja, Julia, and Phoebe were the Celts who represented us here.

These reports come from our hurling coach, Jan Stolle and club PRO, Katharina Breuer:

European Hurling /Camogie Championship Round 1: Amsterdam – 04/05/2024

In May 2024, several Celts played with distinction in the first round of the European Hurling and Camogie Championships. We teamed up with Leuven and came back with some trophies!

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.

German Camogie & Hurling Cup 2024: Tournament Report 06.04.2024

Saturday, 6th April 2024, was a big day in the history of the Cologne Celtics GAA Club, as we secured our second German Hurling Cup, and reached the final of the camogie competition before losing out to the hosts, Hamburg GAA. This article was provided by Kat, Frank and Jan.

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) and Eindhoven (camogie) proved to be worthy winners in the end.

The Story behind the Francie O’Connor Cup – a Chat with Frank O’Connor

Frank O’Connor is a legend of the Cologne Celtics. The driving force behind our development on the hurling pitch over the last few years. Here, he discusses everything from the trophy named after his father, growing up with a passion for hurling and GAA in Europe compared to Ireland.

Strasbourg Invitational Hurling and Camogie Tournament 02.03.2024

As we prepare for the Francie O’Connor Cup and the German Hurling and Camogie Cups, a group of Celts went to Strasbourg last weekend to represent us there at an invitational hurling and camogie tournament. This tournament was, surprisingly, our first time playing on French soil.

Thanks to Laura for putting together this report on what several of the players said was one of the most fun Celtics‘ trips they’ve experienced!

A Chat with Daithí de Buitléir – Founding Chairperson of na Gaeil Óga GAA Club

Na Gaeil Óga is an Irish-speaking GAA club based in west Dublin. It is one of very few GAA clubs outside of the Gaeltacht areas in Ireland, where Gaeilge is the club’s first language. Since its foundation in 2010, Na Gaeil Óga has been one of Ireland’s fastest-growing sports clubs, with approximately 600 players across 35 teams in hurling, Camogie, Gaelic football and Ladies‘ football. In this feature, we chatted with Daithí de Buitléir one of the founding members of the club to hear about their development. This article was published to celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge (Irish Language Week) 2024.

Francie O’Connor Hurling Cup Preview: Saturday, 16th March 2024 Chorweiler, Cologne

Save the Date! On St. Patrick’s Weekend (Saturday, 16th March), the Cologne Celtics GAA Club is back in hurling and camogie action with the second Francie O’Connor Hurling Cup.

We will be playing at Bezirkssportanlange Chorweiler (Merianstraße 5, 50769 Köln). The event is free to attend and is open to the whole family.