Arranmore ready to host All-Island GAA competition

Arranmore are gearing up to host the All-Island GAA competition next weekend, with eight islands partaking in the tournament that will gather communities across the country.  

The Donegal island previously hosted the competition on two occasions in 2008 and 2014, with Arranmore winning the national tournament in the latter. 

The eight islands will see communities come together for the weekend, with teams travelling from as far south as Bere Island and Whiddy Island in Cork, as well as Clare Island, Inishbofin, and InishTurk. While the remaining three teams are made up of the three Arran Islands.  

Arranmore Island is more associated with football than GAA, with their football team, Arranmore United, being a member of the Donegal Junior League since 1987.  

However, once a year, the island takes part in the Inter Islands GAA tournament, a tournament which invites islands from all over Ireland to take part in a one-day tournament. The prize at stake: All Ireland Island champions.  

“We hosted the tournament in 2008 and 2014, we actually won the men’s competition that year in 2014, so we’re hoping for something similar this time around,” said Arranmore player and one of the tournament organisers Daniel O’Donnell.  

“We really only put a team together once a year for this competition. I suppose in the past lads would go off and play with Dungloe, but there’s not an awful lot of lads still about to play due to the population of the island.” 

With the men partaking in the competition since 2005, and the ladies’ team formed in January 2021, O’Donnell is confident that the island will put their best foot forward and show that they are capable of winning. 

“The host team will usually have enough to put in two teams, so, we will put in two men’s teams and two ladies’ teams. We're quite confident for all the sides to perform. The ladies’ team is quite active, there’s a lot of girls on the island and they’re a strong side despite only forming in 2021,” said O’Donnell who is a teacher at St Eunan’s College. 

“This is their third year in the competition and they’re a real credit because they’re flat out all the time.” 

With Arranmore often regarded as a soccer area, there was curiosity about how and why a full GAA club wasn’t put together. 

“I think we had that tag for a long time, we were known as the soccer boys when we were going to other islands, but to have a GAA team, you probably need 20 lads, which isn’t realistic here. Whereas on the soccer side, we usually have a good core of young players but then you can sign maybe four or five from the mainland that always helps,” O’Donnell said. 

The tournament sees the men play 11-a-side while the women’s team play seven-a-side with the tournament spread across the weekend and it’s something O’Donnell and the rest of the community are really looking forward to. 

“We want to show off the island a bit,” he said. “We go away every year and we see other islands put on a good show so we’re really putting in a big effort to show off what we have to offer in Arran.”