Remote preparations won't stop history-making Barcelona Gaels targeting further success

After making history last weekend by becoming the first European team to defeat an Irish side, the Barcelona Gaels are looking to go one further as they face Kilcavan in O’Moore Park in Laois this coming Saturday.

If the Catalan side of Irish expats can "go a bit further" by winning their next game, they joke that "there won’t be a cow milked on La Rambla for a while," jokes Anthony Watters, a player for the Barcelona Gaels and a club committee member.

There is "no pressure" on his side at this stage, Watters adds, as they are playing in "bonus territory," so the Catalan team will go out to "enjoy" the experience.

Unprecedented preparations

Preparations for the historic clash have been like nothing that a Gaelic football side has ever seen before.

Gaelic football teams are most ordinarily community-based groups comprised of people who live in close proximity. But being based in Barcelona and qualifying for a second round game in Ireland, the Gaels' squad has not been able to spend the week together like most teams normally would. 

Instead, around three quarters of the expatriate squad "skipped" their flights back to Barcelona after last weekend's win against Conahy Shamrocks and stayed in Ireland for the week.

Added to that, as the players hail from all across the island, the team has been unable to have any squad training session this week, but players are ensuring they keep bodies moving with individual training and shooting sessions in their local GAA pitches.

"We’ve no idea what to expect from Kilcavan, to be honest, but as county champions they have to be a solid outfit," Watters tells Catalan News. "We’ll take the same approach as the last day and focus on ourselves, playing to our strengths without thinking too much about adjusting any gameplans."

The squad will hold a Zoom meeting towards the end of the week to iron out logistics and the last bits of preparation, with a recap of last Saturday's famous 3-11 to 1-05 victory against county Kilkenny's Conahy Shamrocks, "and see if there’s anything in our approach we want to tweak for this weekend."

"It’s definitely new territory for us so it is kind of funny playing back to back championship matches but not seeing each other as a group in between," Watters admits. "We definitely aren’t looking at it as a disadvantage – the preparation has been done, the group know each other well at this stage and those midweek sessions close to matches generally tend to be light anyway."

Watters, originally from Armagh and living in Barcelona for the past five years, admits that this weekend poses some additional logistical challenges, but is confident that the squad will "all be at O’Moore Park on time as long as nobody falls asleep in the airport toilets and misses their flight – won’t name any names!"

Famous victory

Last Saturday's win for the Barcelona Gaels over Conahy Shamrocks was the first time that a European side defeated any Irish team. The Catalan club qualified for the Leinster Junior Football Championship by winning the European Championship this summer in the Netherlands. 

The feeling in the club is one of huge pride of the achievements. "It was a huge moment for our club and the GAA across Europe to make the breakthrough and win a provincial championship match on Irish soil."

Last Saturday was a "special moment" for "getting to write that piece of history with our families in attendance, where in many cases, the lads would not have played in front of them for years."

The player and club committee member says the team are "very happy" in their performance, particularly as they had to adjust to playing with 15 players - the standard for the sport, but a reduced format is more commonly played outside of Ireland.

"It’s definitely an adjustment going from 11s to 15s but look, we won’t be making any excuses. We’re in a 15s competition because we want to be here and we know we can compete here. We’re delighted to be able to play any form of GAA away from home, delighted with how it has been growing, and grateful for the community it creates as well.W

"We had a strong start which gave us a bit of breathing space and Conahy Shamrocks didn’t find a way to close the gap. They were a solid outfit – very strong and physical team and really put us through our paces. We’ll be happy to invite them out to Barcelona for another match and a few pints."