The annual Chris Hennessey hurling tournament and inaugural Sebastian Riessbeck camogie tournament were held by Hamburg GAA club on the 27th of August.
The club was represented by a full Munich camogie team and 3 hurlers who joined with a team formed from Munich, Darmstadt and the other participating team too.
The hurling competition was highly competitive with very little separating the teams in the group stages. The Munich and Darmstadt amalgamation were unlucky to lose to hosts Hamburg and Dresden by two points each but turned things around in the 3rd place play off to beat Berlin by the narrowest of margins. All 3 Munich players put in good performances throughout the day and represented the club well. The hosts Hamburg played very strongly in the hurling final against Dresden and were determined to take the win in their own tournament in what was their first official year as a GAA club.
The camogie tournament was held in honor of ex-Hamburg club member Sebastian Riessbeck who died in tragic circumstances earlier this year. It was fantastic to see 3 ladies teams from Hamburg, Berlin and Munich taking part showing the growth of the ladies code in Germany's 3 biggest cities. The Munich girls did the club very proud by winning the competition and taking home the Sebastian Riessbeck cup in the competition's first year. An early reshuffle by the management team proved key and the girls were convincing and well deserved winners. Grainne Temple was also awarded the camogie player of the tournament on a very successful day for the team.
Some of the lads and girls will join other teams at the next round of hurling and camogie championship in The Hague on the 2nd weekend of September. The season will be rounded off with the European hurling and camogie finals in Dresden. We will be hoping to send both a ladies and a mens team if possible so the club is well represented in the biggest day for the ancient game in European GAA.
