National Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association

UC Davis claimed a historic first victory with a 4-9 to 1-10 victory over UC Berkeley on Sunday afternoon at Treasure Island. It was closely contested match, but the Culchies — who began play in 2011, two years after Stanford and Cal – rode a strong defensive effort and some timely goal-scoring to the win.

The CCGAA championship was decided last weekend as Stanford claimed the Gary Duffin Cup, but even though this match had no title implications, both Cal and Davis came out full throttle and got stuck in right from the beginning. Berkeley was playing with eight men to Davis’ nine, but the match was very even through the early going. The team’s traded points early, before Davis’ Mitch Hennessy grabbed the game’s first goal.

Cal responded with a point off of a great individual effort from Dan Wait, and began to put pressure on the Davis backline with some nifty ball movement. However, Davis kept them out of the goal with some last-gasp defending, including a big stop by goalie Randy Sanders on Cal forward Richie Douglas. This would prove to be a big momentum shift, as Hennessy added another goal at the end of the half to put the score at 2-5 to 0-6.

History would repeat itself at the start of the second half – after Wait pointed early, Sanders once again made a huge stop against Douglas in a 1v1 situation. Almost immediately after, the ball was cleared to the other end of the pitch, where Davis forward Jesse Burns found the back of the net to increase the margin to double digits. After Davis back Jim Daly scored a point off of a long run and Hennessy hit a free, it was looking like it could turn into a blowout.

The Bears gamely fought back though, starting with an incredible over-the-shoulder redirect point from Douglas. Cal midfielder Gerard O’Reilly connected on a few long-range points, and Wait finally tallied the goal Berkeley had been searching for after some sustained pressure in the Davis end. Cal continued to pour forward, but Davis resolutely defended, with Daly in particular doing a heroic job of mopping up. Finally, Davis put the game out of reach with another goal from Burns as Cal’s backs pushed up to join the attack, Burns picked up a long ball over the top and found himself completely clear on goal, finishing calmly to ice the victory. It was hard luck for Berkeley, who had fought well, but a completely deserved first victory for the hurlers from Davis.

Cal was forced to hand the Gary Duffin Memorial Cup back over to Stanford on Sunday, as they were defeated by the Cardinal on Treasure Island. Stanford scored 2 goals and 7 points (for a total of 13) and Cal scored only 4 points (for a total of 4). The first Northern California championship was played in 2008-2009 when Stanford won the 2-team competition. Stanford and Cal have each won the championship twice, and UC Davis will shoot for their first college hurling win next weekend against Cal.

The UC Berkeley Hurling Club traveled to Davis on Sunday to face the Culchies (nearly synonymous with “Aggies” in Irish) on their home turf. The match finished with an 8-point margin – Cal, 32 (6-14) to Davis, 24 (4-12) – but the final score hardly reflects the constant back-and-forth play that prevailed throughout. Both teams walked off the field battle-worn from a fiercely tight competition between the two veteran clubs.

Davis played the first half of Sunday’s match with 8 hurlers to Cal’s 9, but the disadvantage hardly showed. Cal led by just 2 points at the half. The Culchies’ defense was on point, with Sean Coleman and keeper, Randolf “Randy” Sanders leading the effort. Randy picked up a hurl for the first time in February and comes from a baseball background. Leading scorers for Davis included James Daly, Brian Benyammi and Mitch Hennessy, who wowed the crowd with a series of consecutive points in the second half. The gap was as small as one point with only four minutes to play in the second half until Cal pulled away.

Cal assertively sealed their victory when the match returned to 8-a-side in the second half. Cal’s Irish midfield – Michael Halton and Gerard O’Reilly – connected for several give-and-go points, while veteran American players Dan Wait, Nick Nordhal, Alan Sevier (playing with a sprained ankle) and Jordan Bull put up impressive performances across the field.

The Play of the Game goes to Michael Nave, Cal full forward, who scored an amazing goal in his first-ever college hurling match. On a long puck-in from Dan Wait, Michael made a perfect catch above a crowded infield and slammed the sliotar into the back of the net for a goal.

A great match for both teams and especially impressive for some of the CCGAA’s newest hurlers.

A strong UC Davis midfield failed to overcome a well-coordinated Stanford squad on Sunday, in the second match of the Northern California College Hurling Championship. The UC Davis Culchies (0-1) came out strong early in the match, with high-level hurling skills on display from James Daly, Mitch Hennessy and Cullen Roche. Their rookie goalie Randy Sanders, who played in nets for the first half, also showed off some impressive catches and stops. However, he could not stop the barrage of incoming shots from Stanford. The Cardinal (2-0) were strong all over the pitch, moving the sliothar seamlessly from one end to the other. Ian Garcia scored his first goal of the season while Colin Roach and Peter Salazar alternated for shots on goal the entire game. The final score was 8-11(35) to 2-5(11) though the match was not won easily.

These two teams will face off again in the final match of the season, the weekend of April 28/29 (date and time TBD).

Due to field reservation conflicts with a local sports tournament, the third NCGAA Championship game between Cal and Davis on March the 4th has been postponed to a later date. The Championship is set to continue on April 15 when Stanford hosts Cal in Palo Alto on the Stanford campus unless otherwise noted.

The Northern California Collegiate Hurling Championship has officially begun, with Cal and Stanford having the first match on Treasure Island in San Francisco.

Beautiful weather accompanied fierce competition on the first weekend of play. Stanford’s young squad had a stellar showing, defeating defending champions Cal 0-3 to 5-15. Cal played a mean first half with only 8 players versus Stanford’s 9. The Bears squad featured a very talented first-timer in goal.

The Chairman of the Western Division Board – Paddy Keaney, and the Chairman of the National Collegiate GAA – Eamonn Gormley, both attended in support of the league. Thank you to them and to the referee Steve Barron from Na Fianna Hurling Club.

For the rest of the NCGAA Championship season, all games will be held at 1pm at Treasure Island, unless otherwise noted.

Cal v Stanford – Sunday February 19 at Páirc na nGael, Treasure Island
Davis v Stanford – Sunday February 26 at Páirc na nGael
Davis v Cal – Sunday March 4 at Páirc na nGael
Cal v Stanford – Sunday April 15 at Intra-mural field, El Camino Real opp. Churchill Ave., Stanford
Cal v Davis – Sunday April 22 at Davis
Stanford v Davis – Sunday April 29 at Páirc na nGael