VISITS BAILE BHÚIRNE FOR COMÓRTAS PEILE NA GAELTACHTA 2016
when I looked out the window I saw them training down by the beach. I couldn’t believe they weren’t being allowed to enjoy themselves.”
“I just turned to one of the boys and said, ‘ heigh, tá an comórtas f***ed’.”
Cathal Ó Riada, chairman of the host club CLG Naomh Abán, reiterated the importance of the competition’s social aspect:
“What good is there in having a competition like this if people take it too seriously? It’s such an important and positive thing we’re doing here: bringing all these Irish speaking players and supporters together to meet each other and have the craic through their language.”
Ó Cinnéide goes on to emphasise the positive role the competition made towards his own football, and that of his clubmates:
“I remember when we were winning this thing in the 90’s, just before An Ghaeltacht broke through as a serious force in Kerry and everywhere else. It was a huge boost to win a competition and put down a mark, but those weekends were also team bonding sessions. It brought us all together, and we improved from there.”
“An Ghaeltacht have a strong team coming through, and a good performance here would bring them on, definitely.”
This year’s comórtas has been superbly attended, and walking around An Ollphoball, a fine marquee equipped with a bar, televisions and shops, everyone is at least making an effort to speak the language. Encouragingly, swathes of young people from neo-Gaeltachts in Dublin and Belfast converse entirely through Irish.
Tomás Ó hAiniféin, a staunch supporter of the comórtas, grew up in Lios Póil, the most easterly village in Kerry’s Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht, and he feels the language of his parish’s soul has benefited from its association with the comórtas:
“For breac- Gaeltachtaí like Lios Póil, it can be a challenge to keep Irish alive, but I think the comórtas has made that job much easier for us. Players and supporters come here, they use the language, and I’ve no doubt Lios Póil’s Irish has improved considerably as a result.”
Naomh Abán’s Ó Riada was also keen to point out the economic benefits that have come from hosting the event:
“I wouldn’t have been involved when we hosted it in 1996 and 2003, so I can’t really comment on how good those competitions were to the club, but it’s easy to figure out that the comórtas is a great help to rural areas like ours. People have come from all corners of the country, the hotels and B&BS in Múscraí and nearby areas like Macroom are all booked out, and the pubs will be full. This is great for the area.”
Though the trophies journeyed to Cork for the weekend, none of them decided to stick around for the year. Naomh Abán’s ladies team came closest, but the host club were to be denied in the final.
Naomh Abán have been one of the most successful clubs in the competition’s history, but there’s always doubts about whether they’ll get many more chances to add to their haul, given that the comórtas’ demise is always considered imminent. But Ó hAiniféin is among the many who hope that the comórtas can hold tough against waves of opposition:
“I hope the comórtas survives well beyond my years. To lose it would be a tragedy.”