Donegal native plays his part in bringing GAA to the Basque region

The GAA has carved its name on another corner of the world over the weekend, as the first ever Gaelic football match was played in the Basque region of Spain on Saturday.

Formed last year by four members of the Irish community in the area, as well as an English teacher, Fiona McGrath, originally from Glasgow and a local videographer Mikel Estabanez from the Basque region, the club - known officially as Bilbao Gaels - launched their season with a win over Keltoi Vigo, a GAA team from the north-west of Spain.

Cassidy saves help Four Masters to big win over Buncrana in Tirconaill Park

Goals important but 'keeper Martin Cassidy makes three great saves in second half

“We’ve talked about forming a club for some time, but we never got around to it. Interestingly it was only last year during the Covid-19 pandemic that we became productive in launching the club,” said co-club founder and team trainer, Donegal Town native and Four Masters clubman Thomas McGowan – who played as a county minor for Donegal in 2017.

McGowan was involved in the founding of the club alongside Donal O’Brien from Cavan, Rachael Lesslar from Tyrone, Cormac Doherty from Sligo, Fiona McGrath from Glasgow, and Mikel Estabanez from Bilbao.

“It’s just great to bring the community together. I’ve been here for two years now, and it is amazing how similar Irish culture is to the culture of the Basque people. So, I am so surprised that the GAA has never featured in this area before,” said McGowan.

“Once we got ourselves organized, I was able to take the trainings and build a community to come together to play football once a week. We are now officially registered and ready to take part in the Spanish league.

“From our point of view, it’s just nice to have been a part of GAA and Basque history, and the coming together of the two cultures.”

Other counties representing Bilbao Gaels came from Limerick, Antrim, Kilkenny, and Kerry.