Flying the Sligo flag in Belgium
SLIGO Hurling is well and truly alive in Belgium, as three Sligo natives helped Belgium GAA to the European Hurling Championship title.
Brothers Darragh and Pádraic Burke ( Coolera/ Strandhill) and Tomás Baynes ( Naomh Eoin) were all part of the Belgium side who claimed the Championship last weekend.
Hurling manager and Cork native Dave Barrett said: “It’s been a ground- breaking year for hurling in Europe. A lot of that credit goes to the county board who made some brave decisions in the winter to grow the game.
“Having so many teams in Dresden at the weekend endorses those moves. For Belgium, it’s been a breakthrough year, fielding two teams at every tournament for the first time.
“Winning the championship after such a close final against Luxembourg was the perfect ending for us.”
The championship was run over five tournaments in Luxembourg, Darmstadt, Brussels, the Hague, and lastly Dresden on Saturday.
Belgium GAA won four of the five tournaments including the last and the European Championship as a result.
Established in 2003, Belgium GAA has teams in all four codes, hurling, camogie, gaelic football and ladies football and is growing rapidly with players hailing from Dublin, Limerick, Kilkenny, Antrim, Sligo, Tipperary, Cork, Carlow, Westmeath, Clare, Waterford, Wicklow, Wexford, Galway, France, Serbia, Estonia, Spain, Colombia, Belgium and many more among its ranks.
Belgium’s camogie team was also crowned European champions last weekend.