| 2010 - Hong Kong |
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It's all over for another year and what a weekend!!! 650 players desceded on King's Park and Kowloon Tsai for 2 days of Football & Hurling Action in the searing Hong Kong heat. Plaudits must go to the HK GAA organising committee for a superbly executed weekend, with the schedule going off without a hitch! The weekend opened with a day at the Races and the running of the Ireland Trophy at the famous Happy Valley track on Thursday 23rd. On Friday 24th the Asia-Pacific Ireland Business Forum was held, attended by former Taoiseach John Bruton, former Tainiste Dick Spring among other dignatories. Later that day the AGM of the Asian County Board was held with our distinguished guests, Uachtarain CLG Christy Cooney and Chairman of the Overseas Committe Joe McDonagh.  The Games were opened poolside at the Kowloon Cricket club by Micheal O'Muircheartaigh and Chairman of Hong Kong GAA Shane Harmon welcomed all participants as the clubs began to assemble from all over Asia and the Gulf. 19 clubs were represented from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the UAE and Qatar and for the first time this year we welcomed a new club from New Dehli, the India Wolfhounds. To the games, and Saturday dawned hot and humid. The Derek Brady Cup and Ladies Cup competitors headed to Kowloon Tsai for their group matches while all other participants descended on Kings Park and the superb facilities on offer there. With nearly 100 matches to run on 4 pitches over the course of the day, running on time was a big ask - but all credit to the team in HK, at points throughout the day pitches were actually running ahead of schedule - a feat never seen at the AGG before!!! Highlights of the day on Saturday was the new team, India Wolfounds, scoring 3 wins from 3 in their first outing and some keenly fought juvenile matches, showing that the development of underage football is going from strength to strength in Asia! On Sunday all players gathered in Kings Park for business end of the tournament and the knockout stages of each competition. We were treated to more juvenile matches with teams from various international schools in Hong Kong competing along with the kids from the Orang Eire club in Kuala Lumpur and the Singapore Cubs.
The main events of the day were the three Cup finals and before that Micheal O'Muircheartaigh was installed in the commentary box and the Parade was paraded, the anthems were sung and we were ready to go!
The Hurling Final was contested between 2 combined teams with the Dubai Celts having been knocked out in the group stages - the first an amalgamation of Singapore, Vietnam and Seoul Gaels and the second a combination of Hong Kong, China & Taiwan. After a tight final and a great display of Hurling the HK/China/Taiwan team just pipped their rivals. Final score: HK/China/Taiwan 3-8 Sing/Viet/Seoul 3-7. All Trophies and medals were presented pitchside by our visiting dignatories and games Platinum Sponsors Monex Financial Services and a close was drawn to the best organised AGG ever!! At the closing party the theme was "When I grow up I wanna be..." and all clubs pushed the boat out with the costumes and got into the party spirit after a tough weekend on the field. All-Stars & MVP's were awarded at the banquet along with a Hall of Fame Award for Hong Kong GAA's Edward Cosgrove who has scored a record 7 Derek Brady medals over the years. Club of the year was awarded to Viet Celts for their development work in local schools. The winner of the Alan Power MVP Trophy in the Men's Football was Gareth McDermott from Dubai Celts, while Gearóid Considine of Hong Kong GAA scooped the prize for Hurling & Rebecca Lewis from Singapore took the honour for the Ladies Football Competition. Other Info: Click here to view the All-Star Awardees Click here to view the Media Coverage of the Games Message from Micheál O Muircheartaigh All of this would not have been possible without the support and enthusiasm for the Tournament Sponsors, particularly Monex our Platinum sponsor and other sponsors Fexco, Magners, Guinness, Morgan McKinley, Watsons Water and Pepsi. And thanks also to Asian County Board Partners ESBI, Enterprise Ireland, PCH International, Guinness & Kerry Group.  On the pitch we could have had no games without the contribution of travelling Referees from Ireland, Australia and around Asia - Joe McQuillan, Damian Brazil, Michael Henry, Niall McDonald, Ger McGough, Hugh Smiddy & Francis Neville - and to the many volunteers who refereed games throughout the weekend. Finally congratulations and thanks to the team in Hong Kong for their stellar organisation of the event, to the Asian County Board and to Uachtarain CLG Christy Cooney & Iar-Uachtarain Joe McDonagh for making the trip over to see GAA is alive and well in Asia!
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In the Men's Bowl Beijing and Suzhou reached the final and with no daylight between them at full time and again at extra time, it came down to a Golden Point with Beijing capturing the silverware in the end. Final score: Beijing 3-4 Suzhou Eire Og 2-6. 
In the Ladies Bowl last year's plate finalists Japan GAA faced off against the Ladies from Thai GAA. The Japan Ladies had an extremely diverse team with 2 of their Japanese players scoring All-Stars at the event. The ThaiGals were competing in only their second AGG. Final Score: Japan 1-3, Thai GAA 0-1. 
The Men's Plate saw 2 breakthrough teams reaching the final. The Jakarta Dragonflies who boasted the oldest player in the competition at 58 and the Dalian Wolfounds who were competiting at their first AGG faced off in the final with Dalian coming away winners in the end. Final Score: Dalian Wolfhounds 1-11, Jakarta Dragonflies 1-4.
In the Ladies Plate we saw the emergence of 2 teams from South East Asia. Orang Eire from Kuala Lumpur took on Viet Celts of Hanoi after both dominating in the group stages of the competition. Viet Celts were competing in only their 2nd AGG and Orang Eire in their third. After a keenly contested final the Ladies from KL scored their first silverware at the AGG. Final Score: Orang Eire 1-3 Viet Celts 0-4.
The Men's B Cup saw two of the stalwarth clubs in the Region reach the final after an intense competition at group stages. Shanghai Saints took on Dubai Celts and after full time the score was Dubai Celts 1-6 Shanghai Saints 0-4.
The Ladies Cup was played in a league format with each of the 4 teams playing each other twice in the group stages and the top 2 teams progressing to the final. Holders Singapore Gaelic Lions faced off against Seoul Gaels ladies. After each scoring a win over the other in the group stages it was anyones game - Singapore however went up another gear in the final and won their second trophy in a row. Final Score: Singapore Gaelic Lionesses 7-7 Seoul Gaels 1-5.