Cork players key to historic wins for Warsaw and Amsterdam at European Football Finals
Two Cork players were key to the historic breakthrough wins for Warsaw and Amsterdam at the Croke Park European Football Finals in Maastricht which took place at the weekend.
Rachel Barrett from the Donoughmore club in Co Cork helped Warsaw end Belgium's 10-year reign as champions.
Rachel Barrett said:
"It's super to be with such a wonderful bunch of girls. A lot of us have been together a good few years now and we've gone through a lot together so we're more like a family than a team.
It's fabulous to do so well and it means so much, it really does.
Another rebel, John Murphy, was on the Amsterdam team that became senior champions for the first time in 12 years.
John Murphy said:
"I've been playing for three years now in Europe and I've noticed every year the standard comes on leaps and bounds.
"You see it here in Maastricht with the facilities," he said.
He said that Gaelic football "a game we kept well hidden" which other nationalities across Europe love just as much as the Irish.
Everyone I show this game to loves it, the intensity, the passion.
There's so many skills you can use. Why not have a European county that's as strong as maybe a smaller county at home."
The Corkonians are two of 650 players from across 16 different countries who took part in the tournament.
This year's European Football Championship Finals took place in Maastricht in the Netherlands on Saturday last.
The European Football Championship Finals saw more than 50 teams participate.
