Year 9 Anthony student, Amaia H, shares her experience of representing Australia in the U15 Girls Gaelic Football tournament at the LGFA Féile (festival) in Ireland in June.
My Gaelic football journey began in late 2024 when I was introduced to the sport by an AFL coach who invited me to play in a tournament for Young Melbourne, a local Gaelic football team.
Gaelic football is an Irish team sport that blends elements of soccer, rugby, and basketball. I had never heard of the game before, but I instantly fell in love with it and performed well. This along with my AFL and basketball background, eventually led to an incredible invitation to try out for and be selected to represent Australasia at the 2026 Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Féile (festival) in Ireland for U15 Girls.
We immediately focused on fundraising for the trip and prepared through extra training sessions leading up to the tournament, finally flying out to Ireland on the night of 15 June. After spending five days sightseeing on our own, between Dublin, Galway and Aran Islands we joined the rest of the team to watch a spectacular men's Gaelic Football game - Dublin vs Donegal at Croke Park stadium. The stadium seats 82,000 and the game and atmosphere got us even more excited for our upcoming tournament. The next day we had an inside tour of Croke Park and got to see the pitch up close and meet the President of the GAA, who welcomed us to the country and wished us luck for the tournament.
Throughout that week, we played two lead-up matches against Irish teams, the first was in Killyclogher, on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. That team was very strong, we performed well but lost in a tough battle The second was against Watty Graham in Maghera, Northern Ireland who we beat comfortably. The Irish girls were very friendly and thrilled to play against the Australian team and looked after us with food and drinks after the game.
Whilst away with the team, we did a lot of training and bonding exercises. We also had some downtime to do some shopping and visit some local landmarks such as the Giants Causeway, which was spectacular.
The Féile tournament was held in Ballerin, a small village in County Derry, Northern Ireland. It kicked off with plenty of excitement and nerves. It was a bit wet that day, so we had to wear special gloves as the ball can be quite slippery in the rain.
We tied in our first round against a local Irish team, Annaduff, before being defeated by Warwickshire England in the second round. We recovered in the third round with a strong team performance to defeat another English team, Warwickshire, qualifying us for the Plate final in our division against North East Boston from the USA. The Plate final was a tough and hard fought game but we played really well and won comfortably in the end. I even managed to kick a few overs (which are like a goal in AFL footy between the two big sticks) . I enjoyed every minute of the tournament, and discovered how tough the competition truly is. I was proud of our teammates who got better and better as the games went on and we celebrated in style. The next day we hopped on the bus exhausted and travelled all the way back from Derry to Dublin where we all went our separate ways. I look forward though to catching up with my teammates again soon to share stories of the trip.
Overall, it was an amazing experience where I made new friends, was proud to represent my country and I really made the most of the opportunity to experience the beautiful Irish landscape, the people and their culture.
It was truly great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. Finally, I’d like to thank Padua College, my friends, family and local community for their generous support, and the coaches and organisers for making this amazing opportunity possible.