Abu Dhabi Na Fianna tunes up ahead of new Middle East GAA season

Sport360 staff 16:50 05/10/2017
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  • The first round of the Middle East GAA League kicks off tonight at Dubai Sports City, with 72 teams expected to compete across gaelic, hurling and camogie competitions.

    Teams from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and across the UAE will travel to compete in Dubai, with the hurling and camogie tournaments being played Thursday and the football taking place Friday.

    The league – which runs from October to April – is a nine-a-side format with each game played over two halves of seven minutes.

    Each team is guaranteed three group games, with the top two from each group progressing to the semi-finals.

    In the senior competition, all eyes will be on league and championship winners Abu Dhabi na Fianna and Dubai Celts, who contested several gripping encounters last season.

    The men from the capital, led by Danny Curran and Oisin McGinty, will be bidding to continue their stellar from, while Dubai will be looking to the influence of Aindreas Doyle and Niall Healy to compete with their in-form neighbours.

    Sharjah Gaels and new boys Jumeirah Gaels are also expected to mount serious challenges, with former Limerick star Kevin Moore and ex-Tipperary captain Peter Acheson among the stand-out players in the Gulf.

    In the intermediate division, newly promoted Sharjah Gaels B will pose a threat along with Abu Dhabi na Fianna C and Dubai Celts C.

    The senior ladies competition promises to be one of the highlights of the weekend with Abu Dhabi na Fianna and Dubai Celts continuing to set the bar for gaelic games in the region.

    Abu Dhabi have broken records aplenty of late and their achievements are showing no signs of wilting in the Gulf’s summer heat, with only a handful of defeats over the past five seasons.

    Action gets underway with the hurling and camogie throwing in Thursday at 7.30pm, and the football getting underway from 8am on Friday.

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