FORMER CROKES PLAYER BECOMES PART OF HISTORY
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INTRODUCTION
My name is Aidan Raftery. I am from Roscommon originally. But now I live in Bristol where I currently work with Royal Sun Aliance. My partner is Catrina Hicks and she is from Bristol originally.
I played both hurling and football for Roscommon Geals from 1991 to 1998. I won 16 medals and 4 Trophies during my time with them. These include 1 x National Schools hurling medal, 2 X U.16 football medals, 2 X U.16 hurling Medals, 4 X minor football medals, 1 X minor runners up hurling medal 4 X U.21 medals 2 X Junior Hurling Medals. 1 X Minor football League trophy, 2 X Morley Cup (senior) tournament Trophies 1 x O’Rourke Cup (Senior League) Trophy. The highlight of my time with Roscommon Geals was winning the Senior County Title with them in 1994 where we beat Strokestown in the final in a very wet and miserable Autumn Sunday. We went on to play Tourselstrane in the 1st round of the Connacht club championship where we lost to them in a very good game. I then transferred to Athlone G.A.A Club as I was based in Athlone. I was substitute goalkeeper for them. We got the Leinster Club Senior Club Quarter Final where we were beat by a very good Portlaoise team. I then secured a job in Dublin and joined Kilmacud Crokes where I played Junior C Hurling for the club for a 6 years. It was very enjoyable playing for them. In 2003/4 I played football for the clubs junior 9s. I left Dublin for pastures new in May 2008 du to the economic situation. My partner Catrina is from Bristol originally so we moved there. Her family said that we could live with them until we secured jobs and our own place after moving over.
BEING PART OF HISTORY
Before moving to England, I thought to myself, what could I do that would make living in England easier while being away from Ireland. I thought to myself, why not find out if there is any G.A.A Clubs in Bristol. My search was fruitful and I came across 2 clubs, Western Geals and St Nicks. I e-mailed both clubs with my information, achievements and the positions I play. It took a few days but Western Geals responded to me and I went onto their website and I contacted Ryan O’Niell, who, as it turned out was also a selector for the Gloucestershire County team. We discussed my situation and what I needed to do to transfer from a club in Ireland to a club in a different country. Ryan sent me the transfer forms I needed to complete so that I could play for them. We moved to england on Sunday 2nd May 2008 and, because I had played Senior Club football for my home club, Ryan invited me to County Training with the Gloucestershire Junior Squad. They had already held the trials for the county team and the squad had begun training sessions a couple of weeks before I moved over. However, He wanted me to go to County training anyway to see what I was like. We did our fitness training and stretching and we had a training match. I was very happy with my performance. The manager took me aside and said that he wanted me in the squad for the match against London in Ruislip that coming Sunday. I said no probem. So, I was on my way to being involved in my first inter-county season.
We made the journey to Ruislip and I did not know how good the lads were at championship level against London, but I knew London would be hard to beat. It was funny because, their sustitute goalkeeper that day was a guy I used to work with when I worked in Dublin. He got a transfer to London due to work commitments. Unfortunately we were beat by London.
That defeat meant that we could still progress in the championship but we would have to got into the losers group. We played Yorkshire in Birmingham on a lovely summers afternoon. This was close early on in the game. Yorkshire were tipped to win and they played well in the early stages and took the lead. However, we gradually clawed back the lead and we eventually drew level with Yorkshire. We then proceeded to take the lead with some great scores and we came out winners by 5 points. This gave us confidence and we had a month to prepare for our next match with was a trip to Gealic Park in Cardiff (our home pitch) where we had to play Hertfordshire. We won this game by a good margine. This meant that we were doing well and we were still involved in the championship. Due to that win, we made it out of the group where London awaited us in the long grass and very confident that they were going to beat us twice in the same season. However, we had different ideas. This match turned out to be a totally different animal. We did our homework on London and learned our lesson against London in the first round and we were out to right a wrong. London started the better and took a 3 point lead but we were a better, more confident side than when we played in the first round. We gained some much valued match practice that we would not have had, had we not played in the losers group. We knew that with the players we had, we could win this if we just dug deep and worked hard. That is exactly what we did and we got our just rewards and we ran out winners by 5 points and London had a player sent off.
And that brings us onto The British Junior Football Championship Final. Our reward for beating London in the Semi-Final was a meeting with Warwickshire. This was played in Cardiff. This was an historic day for Gloucestershire as this was the first time we reached the final. No one else had given us a chance of reaching the final but here we were. We wanted to show that we were not just there to make up the numbers. We wanted to make this count as we don’t know when we will get to the final again. Warwickshire were a good team with some very talented players. We started well and we took a 4 point lead but warwickshire cam back to level the game. They were a very physical side but we have a few aces up our sleeves ourselves. With Brian McCarthy as our captain and a good solid defence we knew we had a chance of achieving something on that day. I was saying to myself, I could be a part of a squad that could make history. I was only in the country 2 months and I have a chance of winning a British Championship medal. It was a very close for much of the second half. Both teams were trading points. The game ended level so it went to extra time. We pulled away in extra – time as we had reserves in the tank and this was enough to see us through. The final whistle was greeted with joy and it was a sweet moment to see Cork man Brian McCarthy Lift the Sam Maguire Cup (the name of the British Championship Cup).
Then our attention turned to what was going on in the Junior Championship in Ireland. After beating Warwickshire in the British final, we had to play Dublin in the All-Ireland Semi-Final. This was played on a warm Saturday in July. This was an even more historic day for gealic football and also Gloucestershire as it was the first inter-county All Ireland Junior football championship match to be played in Cardiff. Being realistic, we knew that we did not have much chance of beating a very good Dublin side who have had better games under their belts and had some very talented players with a very good manager in Mick Deegan. They also had former Dublin Senior Midfielder Darren Homan. He was on the Bench. Dublin we brilliant from the off and blitzed into a big lead before we even got our first score. However, even with the talent that Dublin had, we did manage to get some scores and we even scored a goal. However, as expected, Dublin were far too good for us and went on to win easily. It was a big defeat but for me, it was a special day as it was amazing to be part of a great squad who, eventhough we did not win the game, we played Dublin in our first All Ireland Semi-Final.
Dublin went on to the All Ireland final and beat my home county of Roscommon.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you have any feedback or want to keep in touch, you can e-mail me on aidanraftery4_mandrakedesigns@yahoo.ie or call/text 00447519124319
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