Castlewellan GAC hosted their Silver Jubilee 7 a side Gaelic Football Tournament on Saturday 11th September with a line up of 20 teams from all over Ireland and ideal weather conditions.

Among the teams invited to this tournament was, for the second year running, a team representing the British Universities. The talent at the universities is judged by performance in the league and championship competitions in the course of the academic year and recognition of meritorious performance is through an All Stars selection system. From the best 15 players in the 2003 / 2004 academic year 9 were available to represent the Combined British universities at this Castlewellan tournament. These were:-

Darren McAuley (Liverpool Hope) + Pearse Og (Armagh) sustained an injury in the course of the week leading up to the finals, and had to call off. Darren, however was still keen to attend, and accompanied the team during the tournament.

The Draw The British Universities team were drawn in group 3 alongside 3 of the top club sides in Ulster, Sarsfields (Armagh), Liaotroim (Down) and St Galls (Antrim), with only the top 2 from this group progressing to the quarter finals. Sarsfields were the first test for this team of 7 a side novices who were only hours earlier introduced to one another and therefore to gel into a cohesive unit represented a steep learning curve. The tactics were simple - possession football working towards shooting opportunities and men behind the ball when the opposition were in possession. Dermot Higgins was given the responsibility of being the team's anchor man which meant creating the extra man and overlap coming forward with Tim Foley, Brian Kelly and Robert Woulfe being the more defensively minded players, Rory Hannick and Paul Rouse in midfield and Keiran Slain, Brian Lenehan and Brendan Skelly being the main forwards on the team.

First game: British Universities 4-5 Sarsfields 3-3 The midfield combination of Rory Hannick and Paul Rouse gained procession from the throw in and some slick passing and good movement in the forwards resulted in an early score from the boot of Ciaran Slane. This settled the universities team and further scores from Skelly, Higgins, Kelly at half time they led by 4 points. Early in the second half, Sarsfields scored a goal but the Universities were able to respond and when Lenehan and Rouse got goals they ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Second game: British Universities 0-6 St Galls 2-6 In this second group game, a change in tactics saw the British Universities appoint Tim Foley in the sweepers role against a very experienced and hungry St Galls side who were experts in the art of 7 a side football. They taught the British Universities team a lesson with a master class display of possession football with everyone in the team, including their goalkeeper, moving forward in support and while we were in possession they kept 7 men behind the ball in a blanket defence. This proved difficult to break down and the Uni team were forced to pick off long range scores. Despite what we felt was a better display from the Universities team the two goals that St Galls scored proved decisive and they won by a 6 point margin.

Third game: British Universities 3-9 Liaotroim 3-7 The Universities team knew that they needed a victory against this Down senior club side to progress to the quarter finals and they rose to the challenge. Tim Foley was becoming proficient in his sweepers role making occasional and decisive runs forward in possession, linking up well with Hannick, Rouse and Higgins thus creating the extra man and good points from Brendan Skelly, Ciaran Slane and Brian Lenehan enabled the Universities to build up a 2 point half time lead. In the second half a superb individual goal by Paul Rouse as he burst through the Liaotroim defence and further goals from Brian Lenehan and a drop kick in the top corner by Dermot Higgins a few minutes from the end ensured victory and a place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Quarter finals: British Universities 1-6 Kilcoo 2-7 The appearance of the British combined universities in the quarter final draw in this prestigious tournament raised a few eyebrows before the commencement of the game. Kilcoo got off to a flying start scoring a point from the throw in and adding the second shortly after with good slick passing movements. However the University side got into their stride and points from Paul Rouse and Ciaran Slane from a free levelled the scores. Kilcoo then engineered an excellent goal which they virtually walked to the net and with a Robert Woulfe goal just before half-time was ruled out for a square ball the Down team were leading at half-time by this goal on a score line of 1-4 to 4 points. In the second half a spirited fight back by the Universities and surging runs from Skelly, Foley and Higgins saw us match Kilcoo score for score and when Paul Rouse burst through and fired a fierce left foot shot low and hard, a spectacular save from the Kilcoo keeper brought a spontaneous round of applause from the crowd. This, combined with the disallowed Robert Woulfe goal in the first half meant that the luck was not on our side in this particular game which Kilcoo eventually won by 4 points.

The tournament was eventually outright by St Galls whom we had met in the earlier stages of the tournament. They beat Kilcoo in the semi-final and in the final beat the 2003 winners Longstone who emerged as the best from the opposite side of the draw. Following the presentation of the trophy and the individual Silver Jubilee awards, Kevin McGourty (St Galls) was named as Player of the Tournament. In the course of the evening celebrations, the British Universities announced their 2004 All Stars team with the presentations being made by 1994 All Ireland Senior Football All Star and local Castlewellan man Gregory McCartan. This 2004 Datapac All Star team is listed below:-

1. Billy Molloy (St Mary's Strawberryhill) + St Brendans (London)
2. Patrick Regan (Heriot Watt) + Moygownagh (Mayo)
3. Colm MacPhilib (Liverpool Hope) + Kilkenny
4. Tim Foley (Glamorgan) + Erin go Bragh (Warwickshire)
5. James Nugent (RGU) + Kilcullan (Westmeath)
6. Dermot Higgins (Glamorgan) + Charlestown Sarsfields (Mayo)
7. Martin Gill (St Mary's Strawberryhill) + St Brendans (London)
8. Rory Hannick (Aberdeen) + Killala (Mayo)
9. Paul Rouse (St Mary's Strawberryhill) + Brackaville (Tyrone)
10. Brian Lenahan (Liverpool Hope) + Clann Eireann (Armagh)
11. Brendan Skelly (Dundee) + Baleerin Sarsfields (Derry)
12. Darren McAuley (Liverpool Hope) + Pearse Og (Armagh)
13. Ciaran Slane (St Mary's Strawberryhill) + Pomeroy (Tyrone)
14. Rory Wolfe (Aberdeen) + Wolfe Tones (Clare)
15. Brian Kelly (Glamorgan) + Loughrea (Galway)

The British Universities Chairman Peter Mossey thanked the host club Castlewellan for the invitation to this prestigious tournament which enables players at universities in Britain to aspire to the highest level of senior men's football in Ireland and, as a gesture of thanks, presented one of the commemorative All Stars jerseys which were produced by Gaelic Gear and sponsored by Datapac to the secretary of the Castlewellan Club Ciaran Crilley.

During the presentation a special tribute was also paid to the St Mary's Strawberryhill University team who won the Universities Trench Cup in 2004 and three of their representative obtained 2004 All Star awards. Special mention was also made of the fact that one British born player, Tim Foley from Birmingham who received his Gaelic Football coaching through the excellent Birmingham under age coaching school and then progressed to Glamorgan University was the first ever British born player to receive a university Gaelic Football All Star award. Tim was also one of the most impressive performers for the universities at the Castlewellan 7s tournament.