If there is a recipe for success in the GAA overseas, the Ulster Club in San Francisco seems to have found it, having won four of the last five Senior championships in North America.
“It’s a club that’s gone from strength to strength in the past 30 years,” Dara Ó Cinnéide said on a recent visit.
All Ireland winning captains Peter Canavan and Ó Cinnéide travelled to California last weekend to help the club to celebrate its anniversary.
“If there is a template for a GAA club in America, this is it,” says Ó Cinnéide. “The Ulster way seems to be the right way. They have a community going.”
Peter Canavan is equally impressed. “It’s a very vibrant club,” he says. “Ulster Club has a strong home base. There roots are here and they are not uprooting year after year. That shows itself on the field.
“They have that spirit . . . it stands to them. I think it’s the model for any club that wants to achieve out there. ”
It has taken time to get to this position. “You have to credit the elder statesmen of the club with . . . keeping these lads at it,” said Canavan.
Canavan also mentioned the boys and girls from San Francisco Youth who are preparing for a trip to Ireland to take part in the Féile, the annual tournament of hurling, football camogie and handball at under-14 level. “I’m sure they will be well able to hold their own there,” he said.
Video report by Jerome Quinn Media, on Twitter @JeromeQuinn
