Success for St Mary’s at British Gaelic Football Championships

The Ladies’ and Men’s Gaelic Football clubs from St Mary’s University, Twickenham achieved great success at the British University Gaelic Athletic Association (BUGAA) Championships on 25th and 26th March.

The ladies team finished their tournament as champions, whilst the men’s team finished as runners up in theirs.

In Manchester, the ladies reached the semi-finals by finishing top of the group undefeated. They beat Robert Gordon University in the semi-final by 13 points, allowing the team to reach their second final in two years. They fought hard against Liverpool Hope to take an early lead in the final, which proved to be the different with St Mary’s going on to win by 29 points.

At the Men’s Championships in Birmingham, the team reached their first final in 13 years at the British Championships, having finished second in a difficult group. They went on to defeat Nottingham University in the quarter-final before beating Liverpool John Moores by six points in the semi-final, before losing out to a strong Robert Gordon University team in the final. Reaching the final is one step ahead of where the team finished last year having lost their semi-final on penalties.

Both clubs also entered teams into the Division 3 competition. The men lost in the semi-finals to the eventual winners Kingston University whilst the girls struggled in a tough group before missing out on a semi-final place by one point. The achievements of the teams put St Mary’s as the highest performing university in the country for Gaelic Football.

At St Mary’s there are a variety of sports scholarships available to students from a range of sporting backgrounds, including Rory Mason who is a part of the Men’s Division 1 team as well as a County Gaelic Footballer playing for London GAA. Find out more about sports scholarships at St Mary’s www.stmarys.ac.uk/scholarships/sport-scholarships.htm