Donegal GAA Masters all set for massive Donegal weekend in Philadelphia

With just over three weeks to go, Donegal Masters GAA team are making their final preparations for another overseas start to their season with a trip to the US as part of the inaugural Donegal Diaspora Initiative, which is being hosted in Delaware County, Philadelphia from March 20-22.

Hopefully the snow that has been a big feature on the east American coast over the past few weeks will have dissipated in time for the Donegal invasion on the western side of Philadelphia.

The three-day celebration of all things Donegal will include a cross-Atlantic Business Forum, a 10-team Gaelic football tournament and live music united Donegal-linked communities from the US, Ireland beyond.

The initiative is a follow-on to the Donegal Masters’ trip to Glasgow in March of last year but this time it has been expanded with GAA teams from London, Dubai, Donegal and Scotland joining the Donegal GAA teams from Boston, New York and the host city of Philadelphia. 

The Donegal Masters group are due to set off from Dublin on Wednesday 18th March and they have a brief stay in New York before arriving in Philadelphia.

The schedule for the Donegal Diaspora Initiative includes:

Business Forum & Welcome: March 20, 10:30 am–4:00 pm EST at Springfield Country Club, focusing on trade, investment, and networking with Donegal leaders.

Gaelic Football Tournament: March 21, 9:00 AM, at Glen Mills Schools, featuring teams from New York, Boston, Glasgow, London, Dubai, and Donegal.

Music Festival: March 21, 7:00 PM, at Springfield Country Club with performances by The Byrne Brothers, The Brothers Boyce and John McGroary, and Ben Carr. 

The weekend is a huge undertaking and one of the main organisers is Raphoe-native Ciaran Porter, who is chairman of the hosts, the Connect Donegal Committee.


Pictured are the organising committee in Philadelphia. Back: Shane Bourke, Ciarán Porter, Cathal McHugh. Front: Siobhan McHugh, Mary Boyle, John McDaid.

The logistics of providing accommodation for all the visiting teams is just one of the headaches for Porter, who is well equipped for the task.

Porter has plenty of family connections in the Philadelphia area, which is a real Donegal hot-spot in the US. The Donegal GAA club is one of four GAA Clubs in the city and competitions will begin shortly after the upcoming ‘Donegal’ weekend.

“We have our own grounds here and all games are played there. But because of the amount of teams coming for the weekend, we are using the local Glen Mills School as our base,” said Porter.

“We’ve tried to keep the weekend events all in Delaware County. It’s an area in the greater Philadelphia area and we have a vibrant Donegal community here. All the venues for the weekend are within reasonable reach of 20-25 minutes.

“It’s a big undertaking but we have a good Donegal crew here. We are also in partnership with Delaware County Tourism Board,” said Porter, listing the numbers that are coming - 50 from Donegal, 60 from London, 30 from Glasgow, 50 from Dubai. “And that’s just the playing members. Outside of that you might have a few stragglers that aren’t within the club; people that have reached out and want to come for the craic.”

The GAA competition will be a 13-a-side blitz, because that is what they play in the US, and the prize will be the inaugural running of the Charlie McElwee Cup, in memory of one of the founders of the GAA club in Philadelphia, who passed away last year.

Charlie McElwee, originally from Glenfin, was a long-standing and highly respected figure within the Donegal GFC and the wider Philadelphia GAA community. He also served as treasurer of the Philadelphia GAA for many years. Known for his leadership, dedication, and deep roots in both Donegal and the local Irish-American community, Charlie played a pivotal role in strengthening the club’s presence and reputation within the USGAA scene. 

In all seven mens and three ladies teams will take part and there will be a youth element built into the day with representatives from the cities helping out with coaching for young people who come along to find out about Gaelic football.

“We started a youth club a few years ago, so we might grow our youth club a small bit too, which would be nice,” said Porter, who added that because the event falls on the weekend after St Patrick’s Day, everybody will have their Irish cap on and it is a time when the spotlight is firmly on all things Irish.

Porter says he enjoys being involved with all-things Donegal in Philadelphia and the club and he gets home a couple of times a year while they get visits regularly from family and friends in Donegal.

The weekend begins on Friday, which is a welcoming day and also has a Business Forum. “We’ve got a fantastic panel of speakers throughout the day. Highland Radio will be broadcasting from the Forum.

“Then on Saturday evening we will have the cultural strand of the weekend with music. All the artists involved have a big connection with Donegal, whether they were born there or have parents or grandparents, they’re all Donegal connected. Which wasn’t hard to find, which is crazy,” said Porter.

DRIMARONE NATIVE

Another of the Donegal contingent in Philadelphia is Drimarone native, Patrick Bourke, who is back as chairman of the Donegal GAA club in Philadelphia and he is looking forward to being the host club.

Bourke says the team representing Donegal Philadelphia will include players from the other Philadelphia clubs who have Donegal connections.

“We have a team anyway, but we figured that we would just let anybody  with Donegal connections play, just for this tournament.

“It’s a big weekend for Donegal folk,” said Bourke, who said he hadn’t really got involved in the early preparations. “Ciaran Porter and John McDaid have done it all.

“We’re hoping to have a women’s team and it will be the same criteria, players with Donegal connections. I’m hoping to get my three daughters out of retirement to play.

“It’s definitely going to be a big weekend with a lot of Donegal people in town.”

When reminded that the Donegal-Monaghan NFL game will coincide with the last day of weekend, Bourke says: “If Donegal are playing we’ll get the game, don’t worry.

“Donegal are going well. I just hope they don’t peak too early. I’m really impressed with them young boys, especially those Carr boys from Donegal Town,” says Bourke, who adds that he is really looking forward to the weekend.

The Bourke household in Philadelphia this week with the snow outside and a Donegal flag flying high

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The Donegal GAA Masters chairman Conor McShane is looking forward to the trip after the Masters trip to Scotland last year was such a success.

“The idea came about after a few ‘phone calls after our Glasgow trip and fair play to Ciaran (Porter), who has pulled everything together and we have rowed in behind.

“It is similar to the Scotland trip where the Gala event had a bit of business networking to try and support Scotland GAA at the time. So we felt we could do a similar event and make it a diaspora thing as well.

“It is a great way to celebrate what Donegal people have done and recognise the contribution that people like that have made to communities away from home,” said McShane, who agreed that this year’s event was a much bigger undertaking for the Donegal GAA Masters.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do just to try and pull it all together. We’re going over for five days,” said McShane, who praised the host city for the work they have done in sorting accommodation.

McShane is hoping that the event becomes an annual one and the plan is for South West Donegal to host the event next year

“When you are away from home, you don’t forget where you’re from.  I think it would be a nice thing to get everybody back, because a lot of these people have connections over in America, but they may not see each other. We're thinking of taking it all back home to Donegal next year, which would be a remarkable event if we were able to pull it off.

“For now we’re going to enjoy our trip to Philadelphia. Last year we got our year up and running with the trip to Glasgow and this will be a good way for Donegal GAA Masters to launch their season for 2026,” said McShane.